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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. Did you ________________ the button?
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  15. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  19. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  20. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. It's one o'clock ________________.
  24. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. press — to push
  2. kid — to tease
  3. stem — to come from
  4. capital — a city
  5. club — for dancing
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. club — for golf
  8. degree — from a university
  9. kid — child
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. sharp — clever
  12. land — to come down
  13. land — a country
  14. press — a publisher
  15. club — a group
  16. land — ground
  17. degree — temperature
  18. press — newspapers
  19. stem — a stem cell
  20. sharp — with an edge
  21. degree — an amount
  22. capital — money
  23. sharp — exactly
  24. stem — of a plant

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