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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. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. Did you ________________ the button?
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  21. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  22. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — part of the body
  2. hand — help
  3. rule — a law
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. press — a publisher
  6. land — to come down
  7. land — ground
  8. press — to push
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. snap — to click
  11. capital — a city
  12. snap — to snap out of it
  13. mine — for digging
  14. capital — money
  15. land — a country
  16. wind — moving air
  17. rule — to rule out
  18. wind — moving air
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. press — newspapers
  21. snap — to speak sharply
  22. rule — government
  23. hand — in cards
  24. mine — belonging to me

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