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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: rest · land · file · fall · face · capital · court · pop

  1. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. We're almost out of ________________.
  8. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  12. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  15. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  18. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. You don't need to ________________ round.
  24. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. capital — a city
  3. court — of law
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. pop — music
  6. court — of a king
  7. pop — soda
  8. face — part of the head
  9. file — a document
  10. file — a tool
  11. face — to point toward
  12. rest — a break
  13. land — to come down
  14. fall — to drop
  15. rest — what's left
  16. capital — money
  17. fall — to drop
  18. rest — what's left
  19. court — for sport
  20. file — a line of people
  21. face — to confront
  22. land — a country
  23. pop — to visit
  24. fall — the season

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