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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.

Make a worksheet

Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

Words on the sheet
468
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: mine · drill · march · fall · degree · capital · face · roll

  1. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  6. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. We're on a ________________ here.
  12. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  16. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  19. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  20. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. face — to confront
  3. fall — the season
  4. degree — from a university
  5. drill — army training
  6. drill — the tool
  7. degree — an amount
  8. capital — a city
  9. march — the month
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. roll — on a roll
  12. drill — a practice
  13. march — the month
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. fall — to drop
  16. face — to point toward
  17. degree — temperature
  18. roll — a list
  19. fall — to drop
  20. face — part of the head
  21. capital — money
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. march — music
  24. roll — a cake

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