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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: tear · pop · press · capital · content · snap

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. You don't need to ________________ round.
  4. Did you ________________ the button?
  5. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  6. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  9. We're almost out of ________________.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  18. 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. content — happy
  2. snap — to click
  3. pop — to visit
  4. press — to push
  5. press — a publisher
  6. content — the amount
  7. tear — from crying
  8. snap — to snap out of it
  9. pop — soda
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. tear — from crying
  12. tear — to rip
  13. snap — to speak sharply
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. press — newspapers
  16. capital — a city
  17. pop — music
  18. 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