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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: prune · press · chest · scale · mine · march · capital · stock

  1. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. The ________________ market has crashed.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  9. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  10. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  11. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. Did you ________________ the button?
  19. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — a box
  2. mine — for digging
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. scale — for weighing
  5. prune — to trim
  6. stock — shares
  7. capital — a city
  8. scale — size or range
  9. march — the month
  10. stock — goods
  11. press — newspapers
  12. march — music
  13. chest — of your body
  14. stock — a soup base
  15. march — the month
  16. prune — to trim
  17. chest — of your body
  18. press — to push
  19. press — a publisher
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. capital — money
  22. scale — in music
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. mine — belonging to me

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