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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. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. I'll be taking the ________________.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  17. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  18. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  22. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.

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

Answer key

  1. press — to push
  2. tear — from crying
  3. tube — the underground
  4. chair — a leader
  5. tear — from crying
  6. field — for sport
  7. field — a subject
  8. press — a publisher
  9. capital — money
  10. trunk — of a car
  11. tear — to rip
  12. press — newspapers
  13. race — a contest
  14. trunk — of an elephant
  15. field — farmland
  16. tube — in a tire
  17. chair — to sit on
  18. race — the arms race
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. capital — a city
  21. chair — a professorship
  22. tube — a container
  23. race — humankind
  24. trunk — of a tree

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