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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.

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: straw · face · pop · stand · bark · mine · capital · spring

  1. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. We're almost out of ________________.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. You don't need to ________________ round.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  12. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  13. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  23. I can't ________________ this cold.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. pop — soda
  3. capital — a city
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. spring — a coil
  8. pop — to visit
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. spring — of water
  11. face — part of the head
  12. stand — on your feet
  13. pop — music
  14. spring — the season
  15. face — to point toward
  16. bark — to shout
  17. capital — money
  18. mine — for digging
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. stand — for spectators
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. bark — a dog's sound
  23. stand — to bear
  24. mine — an explosive

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