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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.

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: face · capital · clip · pit · land · race · pitcher · ball

  1. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  3. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  4. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  5. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  6. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  7. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  8. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  9. He is an ace ________________.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  16. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. The King held a masked ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. pit — a hole
  3. pit — a fruit stone
  4. ball — a great time
  5. pit — in a race
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. face — part of the head
  8. race — humankind
  9. pitcher — in baseball
  10. land — a country
  11. clip — a video
  12. land — ground
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. clip — to cut
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. ball — a round shape
  17. race — a contest
  18. clip — for paper
  19. land — to come down
  20. capital — money
  21. face — to point toward
  22. race — the arms race
  23. capital — a city
  24. ball — a dance

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