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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. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  4. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. When was this ________________ built?
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  10. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  11. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  12. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. It's one o'clock ________________.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  19. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. The players ran onto the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. temple — side of the head
  4. face — to confront
  5. capital — a city
  6. spring — of water
  7. temple — a place of worship
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. face — part of the head
  10. pitch — a sales talk
  11. sharp — clever
  12. pitch — completely
  13. spring — a coil
  14. game — wild animals
  15. sharp — exactly
  16. capital — money
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. face — to point toward
  19. sharp — with an edge
  20. wind — moving air
  21. wind — moving air
  22. spring — the season
  23. game — a match
  24. pitch — a sports field

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