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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 116 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: capital · bulb · cold · swing · craft · perch · cap · press

  1. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  2. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Did you ________________ the button?
  7. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  8. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  9. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  10. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  11. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  12. David sat on the ________________.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  16. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  17. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  18. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  19. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  20. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  21. The light ________________ burned out.
  22. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  23. I've got to change the light ________________.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. press — a publisher
  2. craft — boats
  3. capital — a city
  4. cold — not warm
  5. cold — an illness
  6. press — to push
  7. cap — a hat
  8. cap — of ice
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. cap — a lid
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. swing — to play on
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. swing — music
  16. bulb — of a plant
  17. craft — a handicraft
  18. swing — in golf
  19. press — newspapers
  20. perch — the fish
  21. bulb — for light
  22. craft — a skill
  23. bulb — for light
  24. capital — money

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