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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. That was a fun ________________.
  2. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  3. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  10. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  11. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  16. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. Did you ________________ the button?
  23. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  24. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. toast — the most admired
  3. press — a publisher
  4. wound — an injury
  5. tear — from crying
  6. capital — a city
  7. toast — bread
  8. game — wild animals
  9. trunk — of an elephant
  10. press — newspapers
  11. trunk — of a tree
  12. tear — to rip
  13. tear — from crying
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. toast — a drink to someone
  16. trunk — of a car
  17. wound — an injury
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. drill — the tool
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. capital — money
  22. press — to push
  23. drill — a practice
  24. drill — army training

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