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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. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  3. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  4. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  5. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  10. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  11. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  12. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  13. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  22. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  23. Did you ________________ the button?
  24. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. club — a group
  3. press — a publisher
  4. press — newspapers
  5. club — for dancing
  6. capital — a city
  7. wake — a trail
  8. cold — not warm
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. hide — to keep secret
  11. wake — before a funeral
  12. hide — to keep secret
  13. wake — to stop sleeping
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. clip — for paper
  17. cold — an illness
  18. clip — to cut
  19. clip — a video
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. hide — animal skin
  22. club — for golf
  23. press — to push
  24. perch — the fish

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