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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  5. You don't need to ________________ round.
  6. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  7. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  10. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. We're almost out of ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  20. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  23. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  24. The King held a masked ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. scale — in music
  3. cold — an illness
  4. scale — for weighing
  5. pop — to visit
  6. face — to point toward
  7. ball — a great time
  8. capital — a city
  9. face — part of the head
  10. pop — music
  11. capital — money
  12. mine — for digging
  13. ball — a round shape
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. pop — soda
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. scale — size or range
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. face — to confront
  20. mouse — the animal
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. mouse — the animal
  23. mouse — for a computer
  24. ball — a dance

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