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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 116 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 stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  3. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  6. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  7. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  8. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  9. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  17. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  21. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  22. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. bowl — a dish
  3. cap — of ice
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. cap — a lid
  6. current — electric
  7. snap — to snap out of it
  8. cap — a hat
  9. face — to point toward
  10. field — a subject
  11. bowl — to roll
  12. file — a document
  13. file — a tool
  14. snap — to speak sharply
  15. file — a line of people
  16. bowl — a football final
  17. face — to confront
  18. field — farmland
  19. capital — a city
  20. face — part of the head
  21. current — of water
  22. snap — to click
  23. capital — money
  24. current — happening now

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