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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. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  6. Did you ________________ the button?
  7. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  8. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  12. We're almost out of ________________.
  13. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  14. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  15. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  16. David sat on the ________________.
  17. The ________________ took off on time.
  18. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. You don't need to ________________ round.
  21. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. capital — money
  3. fork — to eat with
  4. wind — moving air
  5. swing — in golf
  6. press — to push
  7. pop — music
  8. swing — music
  9. file — a line of people
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. fork — a garden tool
  12. pop — soda
  13. fork — in a road
  14. plane — a tool
  15. plane — in geometry
  16. swing — to play on
  17. plane — an aircraft
  18. press — a publisher
  19. capital — a city
  20. pop — to visit
  21. press — newspapers
  22. wind — moving air
  23. file — a document
  24. file — a tool

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