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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  4. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  5. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  6. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  14. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  20. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  21. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. mine — for digging
  3. face — to point toward
  4. root — of a word
  5. chip — to eat
  6. race — a contest
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. chest — of your body
  9. race — humankind
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. capital — money
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. chip — in a computer
  14. chip — for betting
  15. chest — a box
  16. face — part of the head
  17. capital — a city
  18. kid — child
  19. root — of a plant
  20. root — the cause
  21. face — to confront
  22. chest — of your body
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. race — the arms race

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