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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 120 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: press · bear · bore · row · capital · bark · cold · bat

  1. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  4. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  12. Did you ________________ the button?
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  15. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. bore — to drill
  2. cold — not warm
  3. bear — the animal
  4. press — a publisher
  5. row — a line
  6. bark — of a tree
  7. cold — an illness
  8. bear — the animal
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. bore — gave birth
  12. press — to push
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. press — newspapers
  15. bark — to shout
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. bore — to tire
  18. capital — money
  19. bat — the animal
  20. bear — to put up with
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. capital — a city
  24. row — to paddle

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