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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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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: fan · face · row · capital · bat · stem · saw · court

  1. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. She's very handy with a ________________.
  15. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  18. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  19. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  20. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  21. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  22. He works in a ________________ mill.
  23. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. capital — money
  3. court — for sport
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. stem — of a plant
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. capital — a city
  10. stem — a stem cell
  11. court — of law
  12. stem — to come from
  13. bat — the animal
  14. saw — the tool
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. court — of a king
  17. saw — past of 'see'
  18. face — to point toward
  19. fan — to cool the air
  20. row — a line
  21. fan — a supporter
  22. saw — the tool
  23. face — part of the head
  24. row — to paddle

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