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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: capital · bay · cold · straw · bowl · plane · mark · face

  1. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  4. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. My mare is ________________ in color.
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  10. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  14. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  15. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  21. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  22. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  23. The ________________ took off on time.
  24. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — to roll
  2. capital — a city
  3. mark — a grade
  4. face — to point toward
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. bay — a horse colour
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. bowl — a football final
  10. mark — to pay attention
  11. cold — not warm
  12. cold — an illness
  13. bowl — a dish
  14. bay — a part of the sea
  15. plane — a tool
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. bay — to keep at bay
  19. capital — money
  20. face — to confront
  21. face — part of the head
  22. plane — in geometry
  23. plane — an aircraft
  24. mark — a trace

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