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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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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: bore · scale · pit · capital · bat · face · leaves · ground

  1. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  5. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  6. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  7. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  10. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  11. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  12. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  13. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  14. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  15. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  16. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  17. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. capital — a city
  3. ground — a position
  4. bore — to drill
  5. face — to confront
  6. bore — gave birth
  7. scale — for weighing
  8. bat — the animal
  9. leaves — to go away
  10. pit — a fruit stone
  11. bore — to tire
  12. face — part of the head
  13. ground — the earth
  14. pit — a hole
  15. face — to point toward
  16. pit — in a race
  17. scale — size or range
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. leaves — lets stay
  21. scale — in music
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. leaves — of a tree
  24. capital — money

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