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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 120 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. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  8. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. Have you met the new head ________________?
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  15. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  16. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  17. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  18. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  19. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  24. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. face — to point toward
  3. swing — to play on
  4. cold — an illness
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. swing — music
  8. coach — pulled by horses
  9. capital — a city
  10. face — part of the head
  11. hand — in cards
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. hand — help
  14. pit — a fruit stone
  15. cap — of ice
  16. swing — in golf
  17. cap — a hat
  18. pit — a hole
  19. cap — a lid
  20. capital — money
  21. cold — not warm
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. pit — in a race
  24. face — to confront

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