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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: last · hand · press · march · shower · mug · land · capital

  1. Did you ________________ the button?
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. Where did you ________________ them?
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. press — to push
  2. land — a country
  3. press — a publisher
  4. march — the month
  5. mug — a cup
  6. last — final
  7. press — newspapers
  8. shower — to wash
  9. march — the month
  10. hand — in cards
  11. last — finally
  12. shower — rain
  13. capital — money
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. hand — help
  18. land — ground
  19. mug — a face
  20. land — to come down
  21. mug — to rob
  22. march — music
  23. last — to go on
  24. capital — a city

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