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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: mate · face · capital · pit · mine · bat · bowl · cold

  1. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  3. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  4. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  21. Have you found your soul ________________?
  22. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  23. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. pit — in a race
  3. mate — to breed
  4. pit — a hole
  5. capital — a city
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. bowl — a dish
  8. mine — for digging
  9. bowl — to roll
  10. capital — money
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. face — part of the head
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. bowl — a football final
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. face — to point toward
  18. cold — an illness
  19. cold — not warm
  20. face — to confront
  21. mate — a partner
  22. pit — a fruit stone
  23. mate — a friend
  24. mine — belonging to me

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