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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: tear · hand · wound · press · toast · trunk · field · capital

  1. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  7. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  8. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  11. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  16. Did you ________________ the button?
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. wound — past of 'wind'
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. capital — a city
  6. trunk — of a car
  7. press — a publisher
  8. toast — a drink to someone
  9. field — a subject
  10. press — newspapers
  11. trunk — of an elephant
  12. field — farmland
  13. tear — from crying
  14. tear — from crying
  15. toast — the most admired
  16. press — to push
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. hand — in cards
  19. hand — help
  20. tear — to rip
  21. toast — bread
  22. capital — money
  23. field — for sport
  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