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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 kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  3. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  4. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  7. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  8. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  13. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  16. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  21. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  24. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. scale — for weighing
  3. bowl — a dish
  4. bore — to drill
  5. capital — money
  6. scale — size or range
  7. mark — a trace
  8. bore — to tire
  9. shower — to wash
  10. scale — in music
  11. bat — the animal
  12. bowl — to roll
  13. bore — gave birth
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. face — to confront
  16. face — to point toward
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. face — part of the head
  21. mark — a grade
  22. shower — rain
  23. bowl — a football final
  24. mark — to pay attention

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