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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: capital · cold · straw · net · rush · press · nail · ground

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. The ________________ went through the wall.
  3. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Did you ________________ the button?
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. That must've been a ________________.
  9. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  18. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  19. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. He took the fish out of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. nail — for a hammer
  3. rush — hurry
  4. ground — a position
  5. cold — not warm
  6. press — to push
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. rush — a thrill
  9. rush — to hurry
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. cold — an illness
  12. net — in sport
  13. ground — crushed
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. nail — for a hammer
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. nail — on a finger
  18. press — newspapers
  19. press — a publisher
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. capital — money
  22. net — after costs
  23. ground — the earth
  24. net — for catching

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