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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: charge · rock · bore · march · wind · cell · court · press

  1. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  4. Did you ________________ the button?
  5. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  6. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  10. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  11. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  12. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  13. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. The tickets are free of ________________.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — music
  2. cell — a phone
  3. rock — to move gently
  4. press — to push
  5. march — music
  6. bore — to drill
  7. march — the month
  8. court — of a king
  9. bore — gave birth
  10. press — newspapers
  11. press — a publisher
  12. rock — a stone
  13. bore — to tire
  14. wind — moving air
  15. cell — in biology
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. court — of law
  18. charge — in control
  19. court — for sport
  20. charge — electricity
  21. march — the month
  22. charge — a price
  23. wind — moving air
  24. cell — in a prison

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