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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: pitcher · land · cold · press · capital · pop · mate · club

  1. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  2. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  3. Have you found your soul ________________?
  4. Did you ________________ the button?
  5. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. We're almost out of ________________.
  13. You don't need to ________________ round.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. He is an ace ________________.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  20. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  21. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  22. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.

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

Answer key

  1. press — a publisher
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. mate — a partner
  4. press — to push
  5. press — newspapers
  6. cold — not warm
  7. land — ground
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. land — to come down
  10. pop — music
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. pop — soda
  13. pop — to visit
  14. land — a country
  15. pitcher — in baseball
  16. capital — a city
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. capital — money
  19. mate — to breed
  20. club — for dancing
  21. mate — a friend
  22. club — for golf
  23. cold — an illness
  24. club — a group

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