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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 116 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
468
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: hand · capital · board · press · stick · row · land · wound

  1. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  5. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  6. Did you ________________ the button?
  7. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  14. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. press — a publisher
  3. wound — an injury
  4. board — to get on
  5. board — a committee
  6. press — to push
  7. board — a flat piece
  8. land — ground
  9. wound — an injury
  10. capital — money
  11. hand — in cards
  12. land — a country
  13. stick — to attach or keep to
  14. stick — a piece of wood
  15. row — a line
  16. stick — a piece of wood
  17. land — to come down
  18. hand — help
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. capital — a city
  21. press — newspapers
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. row — to paddle
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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