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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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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: season · spring · tear · capital · face · game · deal · scale

  1. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  7. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  12. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  13. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. Did you ________________ the meat?

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. season — in sport
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. capital — a city
  5. tear — to rip
  6. scale — for weighing
  7. face — to confront
  8. spring — the season
  9. scale — in music
  10. capital — money
  11. deal — to handle
  12. deal — a big deal
  13. face — to point toward
  14. spring — of water
  15. deal — an agreement
  16. spring — a coil
  17. face — part of the head
  18. game — a match
  19. scale — size or range
  20. game — wild animals
  21. tear — from crying
  22. season — of the year
  23. tear — from crying
  24. season — to add flavour

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