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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. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  3. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  4. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  5. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  6. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  7. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  10. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  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. pit — a hole
  3. snap — to speak sharply
  4. root — the cause
  5. pit — a fruit stone
  6. snap — to click
  7. root — of a word
  8. cold — not warm
  9. deal — an agreement
  10. pit — in a race
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. snap — to snap out of it
  13. capital — money
  14. degree — an amount
  15. face — to point toward
  16. cold — an illness
  17. root — of a plant
  18. degree — from a university
  19. capital — a city
  20. deal — a big deal
  21. degree — temperature
  22. face — part of the head
  23. deal — to handle
  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