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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: chest · bore · bark · press · capital · court · content · mine

  1. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  2. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. Did you ________________ the button?
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. press — a publisher
  2. bore — gave birth
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. chest — a box
  5. capital — money
  6. bark — to shout
  7. chest — of your body
  8. court — of a king
  9. content — happy
  10. mine — for digging
  11. press — newspapers
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. court — for sport
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. bore — to drill
  18. chest — of your body
  19. bore — to tire
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. press — to push
  22. capital — a city
  23. court — of law
  24. content — the amount

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