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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. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  2. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. We're on a ________________ here.
  8. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  9. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to point toward
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. pass — to spend time
  4. degree — an amount
  5. roll — a cake
  6. degree — from a university
  7. roll — on a roll
  8. pass — a permit
  9. face — part of the head
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. wind — moving air
  13. mine — for digging
  14. roll — a list
  15. bat — the animal
  16. capital — a city
  17. degree — temperature
  18. wind — moving air
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. capital — money
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. face — to confront
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. pass — to succeed

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