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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. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  3. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  8. My father caught me by the ________________.
  9. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  10. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  19. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  20. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  24. He took the fish out of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. face — part of the head
  3. arm — part of the body
  4. net — after costs
  5. current — happening now
  6. last — final
  7. face — to confront
  8. arm — part of the body
  9. snap — to click
  10. current — of water
  11. spring — the season
  12. current — electric
  13. last — finally
  14. snap — to snap out of it
  15. spring — of water
  16. spring — a coil
  17. capital — a city
  18. arm — a part of something
  19. net — in sport
  20. snap — to speak sharply
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. face — to point toward
  23. last — to go on
  24. net — for catching

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