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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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  10. Did you ________________ the button?
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  15. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  22. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. press — a publisher
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. capital — money
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. band — a ring
  8. kid — to tease
  9. present — a gift
  10. press — to push
  11. capital — a city
  12. mine — for digging
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. press — newspapers
  15. present — the time now
  16. row — to paddle
  17. bore — to tire
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. bore — gave birth
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. bore — to drill
  22. present — there
  23. band — a music group
  24. row — a line

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