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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: jam · bat · capital · band · face · mark · arm · cold

  1. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  2. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  3. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  4. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  5. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  8. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  14. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  19. My father caught me by the ________________.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. face — part of the head
  2. mark — to pay attention
  3. face — to point toward
  4. jam — a tight spot
  5. jam — in traffic
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. band — a rubber band
  8. mark — a trace
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. face — to confront
  11. jam — to spread on bread
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. arm — a part of something
  14. mark — a grade
  15. band — a ring
  16. bat — the animal
  17. cold — an illness
  18. arm — part of the body
  19. arm — part of the body
  20. capital — money
  21. band — a music group
  22. capital — a city
  23. cold — not warm
  24. cold — the Cold War

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