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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. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  2. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  3. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  7. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  8. He works in a ________________ mill.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  11. We're on a ________________ here.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  16. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  19. She's very handy with a ________________.
  20. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  23. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  24. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. roll — a cake
  2. staff — employees
  3. face — part of the head
  4. capital — a city
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. fork — a garden tool
  7. face — to confront
  8. saw — the tool
  9. capital — money
  10. march — the month
  11. roll — on a roll
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. roll — a list
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. face — to point toward
  16. saw — past of 'see'
  17. march — music
  18. fork — in a road
  19. saw — the tool
  20. staff — a stick
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. march — the month
  23. fork — to eat with
  24. staff — employees

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