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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.

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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: present · capital · bore · drill · wind · face · pop · file

  1. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  2. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  7. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  8. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  9. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  10. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. You don't need to ________________ round.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  19. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  20. We're almost out of ________________.
  21. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.

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

Answer key

  1. present — there
  2. face — to confront
  3. drill — army training
  4. capital — a city
  5. file — a tool
  6. present — the time now
  7. face — to point toward
  8. present — a gift
  9. bore — to drill
  10. bore — gave birth
  11. file — a document
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. pop — to visit
  14. wind — moving air
  15. drill — a practice
  16. wind — moving air
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. bore — to tire
  19. face — part of the head
  20. pop — soda
  21. drill — the tool
  22. file — a line of people
  23. capital — money
  24. pop — music

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