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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.

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: mug · drill · kick · face · cold · game · capital · march

  1. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  3. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  4. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  5. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Where did you ________________ them?
  9. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  10. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  13. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. face — part of the head
  3. drill — the tool
  4. mug — a face
  5. face — to confront
  6. game — a match
  7. cold — an illness
  8. mug — to rob
  9. kick — a thrill
  10. face — to point toward
  11. game — wild animals
  12. drill — army training
  13. drill — a practice
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. march — music
  17. mug — a cup
  18. march — the month
  19. capital — a city
  20. kick — with a leg
  21. march — the month
  22. kick — in football
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. cold — not warm

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