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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. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  2. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  3. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  19. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  20. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for dancing
  2. club — a group
  3. face — to confront
  4. land — a country
  5. face — to point toward
  6. land — to come down
  7. shower — rain
  8. shower — to wash
  9. club — for golf
  10. capital — a city
  11. march — music
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. fall — to drop
  14. march — the month
  15. march — the month
  16. squash — the sport
  17. capital — money
  18. fall — the season
  19. squash — to crush
  20. squash — the vegetable
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. face — part of the head
  23. land — ground
  24. fall — to drop

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