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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 116 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. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  3. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  8. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  18. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  19. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  20. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. Don't do anything ________________.
  24. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. rash — on the skin
  3. face — to point toward
  4. ground — a position
  5. capital — a city
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. face — part of the head
  8. scale — size or range
  9. ground — crushed
  10. file — a tool
  11. bat — the animal
  12. file — a document
  13. capital — money
  14. file — a line of people
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. scale — for weighing
  18. face — to confront
  19. rash — a series
  20. row — a line
  21. row — to paddle
  22. ground — the earth
  23. rash — hasty
  24. scale — in music

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