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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. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. The tickets are free of ________________.
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  8. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  14. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  18. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  19. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  20. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  21. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. charge — a price
  3. band — a music group
  4. charge — in control
  5. capital — money
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. bark — to shout
  8. bear — to put up with
  9. cold — an illness
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. capital — a city
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. face — to confront
  14. face — to point toward
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. game — wild animals
  17. bear — the animal
  18. charge — electricity
  19. band — a rubber band
  20. face — part of the head
  21. bark — of a tree
  22. cold — not warm
  23. bear — the animal
  24. game — a match

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