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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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. The King held a masked ________________.
  8. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. The ________________ took off on time.
  11. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. Did you ________________ the button?
  17. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  22. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  23. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a line
  2. snap — to snap out of it
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. ball — a great time
  5. capital — money
  6. band — a music group
  7. ball — a dance
  8. press — newspapers
  9. capital — a city
  10. plane — an aircraft
  11. plane — a tool
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. mine — for digging
  15. band — a ring
  16. press — to push
  17. snap — to click
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. press — a publisher
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. ball — a round shape
  22. snap — to speak sharply
  23. plane — in geometry
  24. row — to paddle

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