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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. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  5. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  6. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  16. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  20. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. face — part of the head
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. kick — a thrill
  5. pound — to hit hard
  6. pound — for dogs
  7. shower — rain
  8. kick — with a leg
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. face — to confront
  11. file — a document
  12. file — a tool
  13. pound — a weight
  14. capital — a city
  15. rule — a law
  16. rule — to rule out
  17. content — happy
  18. file — a line of people
  19. kick — in football
  20. rule — government
  21. shower — to wash
  22. capital — money
  23. face — to point toward
  24. content — videos and posts

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