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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 120 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. My mare is ________________ in color.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  9. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  10. Have you met the new head ________________?
  11. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bay — a horse colour
  2. spring — a coil
  3. face — to confront
  4. march — the month
  5. capital — a city
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. face — to point toward
  9. bay — to keep at bay
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. bay — a part of the sea
  12. capital — money
  13. tear — from crying
  14. tear — from crying
  15. shower — to wash
  16. march — music
  17. face — part of the head
  18. spring — the season
  19. coach — pulled by horses
  20. march — the month
  21. tear — to rip
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. shower — rain
  24. spring — of water

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