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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  4. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  5. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  6. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  7. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  18. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  19. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  20. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  23. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  24. My father caught me by the ________________.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. field — a subject
  3. arm — part of the body
  4. deal — an agreement
  5. face — to confront
  6. lean — thin
  7. lean — to bend
  8. clip — for paper
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. face — to point toward
  11. clip — to cut
  12. capital — money
  13. deal — a big deal
  14. clip — a video
  15. lean — to rest against
  16. field — for sport
  17. face — part of the head
  18. wake — a trail
  19. deal — to handle
  20. wake — before a funeral
  21. field — farmland
  22. wake — to stop sleeping
  23. arm — a part of something
  24. arm — part of the body

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com