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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. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  2. Did you ________________ the button?
  3. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Have you found your soul ________________?
  10. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  11. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  14. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  17. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  21. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  22. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  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. net — in sport
  2. press — to push
  3. mate — to breed
  4. spring — a coil
  5. spring — the season
  6. press — a publisher
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. mate — a partner
  10. stick — a piece of wood
  11. stick — to attach or keep to
  12. capital — money
  13. lie — an untruth
  14. lie — to recline
  15. capital — a city
  16. mate — a friend
  17. stick — a piece of wood
  18. cold — an illness
  19. spring — of water
  20. net — after costs
  21. lie — an untruth
  22. net — for catching
  23. cold — not warm
  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