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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: fan · last · mine · tube · drill · march · face · capital

  1. I'll be taking the ________________.
  2. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  3. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  4. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. False peace will not ________________.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  10. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  16. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  19. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  20. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  24. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — the underground
  2. tube — a container
  3. face — part of the head
  4. drill — a practice
  5. march — the month
  6. last — final
  7. last — to go on
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. tube — in a tire
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. capital — a city
  13. march — the month
  14. capital — money
  15. fan — to cool the air
  16. last — finally
  17. march — music
  18. face — to confront
  19. drill — the tool
  20. drill — army training
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. mine — for digging
  23. face — to point toward
  24. fan — a supporter

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