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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. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. When was this ________________ built?
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  17. There's no middle ________________.
  18. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  19. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  24. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. face — to point toward
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. wind — moving air
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. ground — crushed
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. wind — moving air
  10. band — a ring
  11. temple — a place of worship
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. content — the amount
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. capital — a city
  16. face — part of the head
  17. ground — a position
  18. band — a music group
  19. ground — the earth
  20. bat — the animal
  21. temple — a place of worship
  22. capital — money
  23. temple — side of the head
  24. content — happy

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