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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. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. Did you ________________ the button?
  5. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  6. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  13. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  16. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  17. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  22. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  23. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a fruit stone
  2. court — for sport
  3. court — of law
  4. press — to push
  5. court — of a king
  6. pit — in a race
  7. capital — a city
  8. capital — money
  9. clip — for paper
  10. spring — of water
  11. spring — a coil
  12. perch — the fish
  13. stick — a piece of wood
  14. clip — to cut
  15. press — newspapers
  16. stick — to attach or keep to
  17. pit — a hole
  18. clip — a video
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. press — a publisher
  22. stick — a piece of wood
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. spring — the season

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