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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: capital · game · mark · bat · face · season · board · land

  1. When are we going to ________________?
  2. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  5. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. Did you ________________ the meat?
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  13. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  14. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  22. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. board — a committee
  3. bat — the animal
  4. board — to get on
  5. season — in sport
  6. game — wild animals
  7. board — a flat piece
  8. capital — a city
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. season — to add flavour
  11. land — a country
  12. season — of the year
  13. face — to confront
  14. mark — a trace
  15. capital — money
  16. mark — to pay attention
  17. game — a match
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. face — part of the head
  20. land — ground
  21. mark — a grade
  22. face — to point toward
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. bat — in an idiom

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