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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.

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

Word bank: tear · face · degree · bowl · capital · wound · file · straw

  1. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  10. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. tear — to rip
  4. bowl — to roll
  5. wound — an injury
  6. file — a document
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. degree — temperature
  9. bowl — a football final
  10. bowl — a dish
  11. degree — from a university
  12. file — a line of people
  13. face — part of the head
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. face — to point toward
  16. tear — from crying
  17. tear — from crying
  18. face — to confront
  19. capital — a city
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. wound — an injury
  23. file — a tool
  24. degree — an amount

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