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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. Did you ________________ the button?
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  9. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  10. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  14. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  15. Have you settled on a ________________?
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. spring — a coil
  4. press — to push
  5. spring — of water
  6. bat — the animal
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. hide — to keep secret
  10. hide — animal skin
  11. file — a tool
  12. file — a document
  13. date — the fruit
  14. hide — to keep secret
  15. date — on the calendar
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. capital — money
  18. capital — a city
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. press — a publisher
  21. hand — in cards
  22. spring — the season
  23. file — a line of people
  24. press — newspapers

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