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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 116 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 strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  3. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  14. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. There's no middle ________________.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. face — part of the head
  3. trunk — of a tree
  4. capital — a city
  5. trunk — of an elephant
  6. capital — money
  7. race — the arms race
  8. file — a document
  9. ground — crushed
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. race — humankind
  12. race — a contest
  13. ground — the earth
  14. face — to confront
  15. file — a line of people
  16. ground — a position
  17. wound — an injury
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. wind — moving air
  20. file — a tool
  21. trunk — of a car
  22. wound — an injury
  23. face — to point toward
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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