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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 120 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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. Did you ________________ the button?
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  21. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  22. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  23. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. press — to push
  3. capital — money
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. land — a country
  6. deal — an agreement
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. spring — a coil
  9. spring — of water
  10. content — happy
  11. press — newspapers
  12. land — to come down
  13. spring — the season
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. land — ground
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. hand — in cards
  18. band — a ring
  19. content — the amount
  20. band — a music group
  21. deal — a big deal
  22. deal — to handle
  23. press — a publisher
  24. capital — a city

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