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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. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  2. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  6. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  11. Did you ________________ the button?
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  14. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  15. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  20. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. False peace will not ________________.
  23. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  24. Can you turn the ________________ on?

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

Answer key

  1. drill — the tool
  2. perch — the fish
  3. capital — a city
  4. field — farmland
  5. kick — a thrill
  6. press — a publisher
  7. last — final
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. field — for sport
  10. kick — with a leg
  11. press — to push
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. press — newspapers
  15. kick — in football
  16. field — a subject
  17. drill — a practice
  18. capital — money
  19. fan — a supporter
  20. fan — a supporter
  21. last — finally
  22. last — to go on
  23. drill — army training
  24. fan — to cool the air

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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