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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. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  2. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  3. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  4. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  5. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  6. Did you ________________ the button?
  7. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  8. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  22. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  23. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  24. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.

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

Answer key

  1. can — to be able to
  2. bore — to tire
  3. can — a tin
  4. prune — the fruit
  5. bore — gave birth
  6. press — to push
  7. bore — to drill
  8. face — to confront
  9. clip — a video
  10. face — to point toward
  11. race — the arms race
  12. capital — money
  13. can — a tin
  14. race — a contest
  15. clip — for paper
  16. face — part of the head
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. clip — to cut
  19. prune — to trim
  20. capital — a city
  21. press — a publisher
  22. race — humankind
  23. prune — to trim
  24. press — newspapers

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