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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: land · capital · face · pitcher · cold · dip · nail · scale

  1. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  4. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  8. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  9. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  10. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  11. He is an ace ________________.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. The ________________ went through the wall.
  14. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  17. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  23. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  24. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.

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

Answer key

  1. nail — on a finger
  2. capital — money
  3. dip — to dunk
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. land — a country
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. face — to confront
  8. scale — for weighing
  9. scale — size or range
  10. scale — in music
  11. pitcher — in baseball
  12. land — ground
  13. nail — for a hammer
  14. dip — to sink
  15. land — to come down
  16. nail — for a hammer
  17. face — part of the head
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. capital — a city
  20. cold — not warm
  21. cold — an illness
  22. face — to point toward
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. dip — a sauce

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