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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  5. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. We're on a ________________ here.
  8. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  9. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  10. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. The tickets are free of ________________.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  19. Have you found your soul ________________?
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  24. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. roll — a cake
  3. degree — from a university
  4. face — to confront
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. kid — child
  7. roll — on a roll
  8. face — part of the head
  9. charge — electricity
  10. charge — in control
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. charge — a price
  13. capital — a city
  14. roll — a list
  15. degree — an amount
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. perch — the fish
  19. mate — a partner
  20. capital — money
  21. mate — to breed
  22. degree — temperature
  23. face — to point toward
  24. mate — a friend

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