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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.

Make a worksheet

Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

Words on the sheet
468
Word bank
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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. When are we going to ________________?
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  14. Did you ________________ the meat?
  15. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  20. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. capital — a city
  3. land — ground
  4. cold — not warm
  5. capital — money
  6. face — to confront
  7. cell — a phone
  8. chair — a leader
  9. wind — moving air
  10. face — part of the head
  11. land — a country
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. face — to point toward
  14. season — to add flavour
  15. chair — to sit on
  16. cell — in biology
  17. wind — moving air
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. chair — a professorship
  20. season — of the year
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. season — in sport
  24. cold — an illness

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