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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 124 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.

Make a worksheet

Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

Words on the sheet
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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: scale · face · board · cold · drill · capital

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  5. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  8. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  11. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  12. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  13. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. face — part of the head
  3. capital — money
  4. scale — size or range
  5. board — a committee
  6. cold — an illness
  7. board — a flat piece
  8. scale — in music
  9. cold — not warm
  10. face — to point toward
  11. drill — a practice
  12. face — to confront
  13. scale — for weighing
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. board — to get on
  17. drill — the tool
  18. drill — army training

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