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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 · pit · game · land · cold · stand · lash · capital

  1. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  10. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  11. Did you ________________ the button?
  12. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  13. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. I can't ________________ this cold.
  19. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  20. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  23. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. game — wild animals
  3. land — ground
  4. land — to come down
  5. press — a publisher
  6. capital — money
  7. cold — not warm
  8. capital — a city
  9. press — newspapers
  10. lash — an eyelash
  11. press — to push
  12. pit — a fruit stone
  13. stand — for spectators
  14. land — a country
  15. lash — to lash out
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. game — a match
  18. stand — to bear
  19. stand — on your feet
  20. pit — in a race
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. pit — a hole
  23. lash — a whip stroke
  24. cold — an illness

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