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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. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  4. Did you ________________ the button?
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. Where did you ________________ them?
  15. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  16. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. last — final
  3. mug — a cup
  4. press — to push
  5. capital — money
  6. last — to go on
  7. land — to come down
  8. leaves — to go away
  9. degree — from a university
  10. land — a country
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. press — a publisher
  13. degree — temperature
  14. mug — to rob
  15. leaves — of a tree
  16. spell — magic
  17. degree — an amount
  18. spell — a short time
  19. leaves — lets stay
  20. last — finally
  21. mug — a face
  22. capital — a city
  23. press — newspapers
  24. land — ground

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