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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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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: capital · present · cold · lean · clip · face · bear · season

  1. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  4. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  5. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  6. Did you ________________ the meat?
  7. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  10. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  11. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  12. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  22. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  23. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. bear — the animal
  4. lean — to rest against
  5. present — there
  6. season — to add flavour
  7. present — the time now
  8. cold — not warm
  9. season — of the year
  10. bear — to put up with
  11. face — part of the head
  12. season — in sport
  13. clip — to cut
  14. present — a gift
  15. capital — money
  16. clip — for paper
  17. bear — the animal
  18. cold — an illness
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. capital — a city
  21. face — to point toward
  22. lean — to bend
  23. lean — thin
  24. clip — a video

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