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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: wound · kick · capital · sharp · drill · last · spring · face

  1. False peace will not ________________.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  6. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  12. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  13. It's one o'clock ________________.
  14. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  23. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  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. last — to go on
  2. spring — a coil
  3. drill — army training
  4. spring — of water
  5. kick — a thrill
  6. face — part of the head
  7. wound — an injury
  8. sharp — with an edge
  9. last — final
  10. last — finally
  11. face — to point toward
  12. kick — in football
  13. sharp — exactly
  14. sharp — clever
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. face — to confront
  18. wound — an injury
  19. drill — a practice
  20. capital — a city
  21. spring — the season
  22. kick — with a leg
  23. drill — the tool
  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