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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 116 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. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. She's very handy with a ________________.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  7. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  8. Did you ________________ the button?
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. He works in a ________________ mill.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  15. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  16. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. David sat on the ________________.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — part of the body
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. spring — of water
  4. saw — the tool
  5. bark — to shout
  6. press — newspapers
  7. bark — a dog's sound
  8. press — to push
  9. spring — the season
  10. swing — in golf
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. saw — the tool
  13. spring — a coil
  14. saw — past of 'see'
  15. swing — music
  16. press — a publisher
  17. wind — moving air
  18. hand — in cards
  19. hand — help
  20. wind — moving air
  21. swing — to play on
  22. capital — a city
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. capital — money

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