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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 116 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. That was a fun ________________.
  2. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. Did you ________________ the meat?
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. Did you ________________ the button?
  15. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  19. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. There's no middle ________________.
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. Spring is a pleasant ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. squash — the vegetable
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. season — in sport
  5. last — final
  6. ground — crushed
  7. season — to add flavour
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. capital — a city
  10. clip — for paper
  11. press — a publisher
  12. clip — a video
  13. clip — to cut
  14. press — to push
  15. press — newspapers
  16. ground — the earth
  17. last — to go on
  18. squash — the sport
  19. squash — to crush
  20. capital — money
  21. game — wild animals
  22. ground — a position
  23. last — finally
  24. season — of the year

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