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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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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: tear · press · race · date · mate · capital · wound · game

  1. Have you found your soul ________________?
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  18. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  19. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. Did you ________________ the button?
  22. Have you settled on a ________________?
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a partner
  2. tear — to rip
  3. mate — to breed
  4. tear — from crying
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. capital — a city
  7. game — wild animals
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. race — a contest
  10. mate — a friend
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. wound — an injury
  13. tear — from crying
  14. date — the fruit
  15. game — a match
  16. race — humankind
  17. press — a publisher
  18. race — the arms race
  19. press — newspapers
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. press — to push
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. capital — money
  24. wound — an injury

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