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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: chip · tube · spring · face · capital · fall · press · hand

  1. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  3. Did you ________________ the button?
  4. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. I'll be taking the ________________.
  10. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  11. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  12. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  19. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  20. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. fall — to drop
  3. press — to push
  4. chip — to eat
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. tube — a container
  7. hand — help
  8. spring — of water
  9. tube — the underground
  10. face — to point toward
  11. face — part of the head
  12. chip — for betting
  13. spring — the season
  14. capital — a city
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. fall — to drop
  17. hand — in cards
  18. press — newspapers
  19. fall — the season
  20. tube — in a tire
  21. spring — a coil
  22. chip — in a computer
  23. capital — money
  24. press — a publisher

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