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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 120 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: fan · face · spring · shower · hide · lash · cold · capital

  1. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  2. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  3. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  8. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  9. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  12. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  20. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. face — part of the head
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. hide — animal skin
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. capital — money
  6. shower — to wash
  7. lash — to lash out
  8. hide — to keep secret
  9. fan — to cool the air
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. lash — a whip stroke
  12. face — to confront
  13. cold — not warm
  14. face — to point toward
  15. spring — the season
  16. spring — a coil
  17. cold — an illness
  18. shower — rain
  19. fan — a supporter
  20. hide — to keep secret
  21. spring — of water
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. lash — an eyelash
  24. capital — a city

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