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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. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  6. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  7. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  8. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  9. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  10. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  13. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  14. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  15. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  16. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  17. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  20. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. She got the top ________________ in the exam.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. net — after costs
  3. pitch — a sales talk
  4. capital — money
  5. face — part of the head
  6. face — to point toward
  7. face — to confront
  8. mark — to pay attention
  9. kick — a thrill
  10. pitch — a sports field
  11. file — a document
  12. craft — a handicraft
  13. kick — with a leg
  14. kick — in football
  15. mark — a trace
  16. craft — boats
  17. craft — a skill
  18. file — a line of people
  19. net — for catching
  20. net — in sport
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. pitch — completely
  23. file — a tool
  24. mark — a grade

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