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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: shower · capital · row · cell · deal · face · press · date

  1. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  11. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. Have you settled on a ________________?
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  18. Did you ________________ the button?
  19. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  22. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  23. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  24. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.

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

Answer key

  1. face — part of the head
  2. capital — a city
  3. cell — in biology
  4. cell — a phone
  5. shower — rain
  6. press — a publisher
  7. shower — to wash
  8. face — to confront
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. press — newspapers
  11. date — on the calendar
  12. row — a line
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. date — on the calendar
  16. capital — money
  17. row — a quarrel
  18. press — to push
  19. deal — a big deal
  20. row — to paddle
  21. deal — to handle
  22. date — the fruit
  23. deal — an agreement
  24. face — to point toward

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