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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 120 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. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  3. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. Did you ________________ the button?
  6. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  11. That was ________________ to happen.
  12. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  20. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  21. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. press — a publisher
  3. sharp — clever
  4. march — music
  5. press — to push
  6. net — for catching
  7. row — to paddle
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. sharp — with an edge
  11. bound — certain
  12. press — newspapers
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. march — the month
  15. capital — money
  16. net — in sport
  17. file — a tool
  18. march — the month
  19. bound — tied together
  20. row — a line
  21. bound — obliged
  22. file — a line of people
  23. net — after costs
  24. file — a document

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