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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. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  5. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  9. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  15. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  16. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  19. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  20. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. court — for sport
  3. snap — to click
  4. face — part of the head
  5. board — a flat piece
  6. court — of a king
  7. cold — not warm
  8. rock — a stone
  9. face — to point toward
  10. capital — money
  11. hand — help
  12. rock — to move gently
  13. cold — an illness
  14. snap — to snap out of it
  15. snap — to speak sharply
  16. face — to confront
  17. court — of law
  18. board — a committee
  19. board — to get on
  20. rock — music
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. hand — in cards
  24. cold — the Cold War

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