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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: fork · squash · pitch · scale · mine · press · capital · club

  1. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  4. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  5. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  6. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  7. Did you ________________ the button?
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  10. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  11. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  17. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  18. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  19. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  20. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  21. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  22. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for dancing
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. fork — a garden tool
  4. pitch — a sports field
  5. club — for golf
  6. scale — size or range
  7. press — to push
  8. capital — a city
  9. squash — the sport
  10. fork — to eat with
  11. scale — for weighing
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. squash — the vegetable
  14. capital — money
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. press — a publisher
  17. pitch — a sales talk
  18. squash — to crush
  19. pitch — completely
  20. press — newspapers
  21. fork — in a road
  22. scale — in music
  23. mine — for digging
  24. club — a group

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