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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: bark · face · race · land · capital · wind · pound · toast

  1. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  2. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  4. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  5. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  13. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. toast — the most admired
  2. face — to confront
  3. race — a contest
  4. face — part of the head
  5. toast — bread
  6. capital — a city
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. bark — a dog's sound
  9. race — the arms race
  10. pound — for dogs
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. race — humankind
  13. pound — to hit hard
  14. land — to come down
  15. face — to point toward
  16. bark — to shout
  17. land — a country
  18. capital — money
  19. toast — a drink to someone
  20. wind — moving air
  21. bark — of a tree
  22. land — ground
  23. pound — a weight
  24. wind — moving air

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