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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. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  6. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  7. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  8. Did you ________________ the button?
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  15. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  16. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  17. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  18. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  19. That must've been a ________________.
  20. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  23. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. lash — a whip stroke
  3. capital — a city
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. lash — to lash out
  6. rush — hurry
  7. press — a publisher
  8. press — to push
  9. capital — money
  10. cap — of ice
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. cap — a lid
  15. lash — an eyelash
  16. press — newspapers
  17. rush — to hurry
  18. pitch — a sales talk
  19. rush — a thrill
  20. pitch — completely
  21. row — a line
  22. cap — a hat
  23. pitch — a sports field
  24. row — to paddle

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