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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. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  12. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  13. We're almost out of ________________.
  14. You don't need to ________________ round.
  15. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  22. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. He took the fish out of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. net — in sport
  3. field — farmland
  4. capital — a city
  5. field — a subject
  6. capital — money
  7. club — a group
  8. race — a contest
  9. race — the arms race
  10. file — a document
  11. pop — music
  12. face — part of the head
  13. pop — soda
  14. pop — to visit
  15. club — for dancing
  16. field — for sport
  17. file — a line of people
  18. file — a tool
  19. club — for golf
  20. race — humankind
  21. net — after costs
  22. face — to point toward
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. net — for catching

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