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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 120 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: present · mine · prune · press · march · tear

  1. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  2. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. Did you ________________ the button?
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  18. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.

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

Answer key

  1. present — a gift
  2. march — the month
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. tear — from crying
  5. tear — to rip
  6. present — there
  7. mine — for digging
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. press — to push
  10. tear — from crying
  11. prune — to trim
  12. present — the time now
  13. prune — to trim
  14. march — the month
  15. march — music
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. press — newspapers
  18. press — a publisher

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