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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 120 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: charge · press · shower · capital · saw · mine · spring · ground

  1. Did you ________________ the button?
  2. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  3. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  4. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. She's very handy with a ________________.
  10. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  14. He works in a ________________ mill.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. The tickets are free of ________________.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. Add some ________________ pepper to it.

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

Answer key

  1. press — to push
  2. saw — past of 'see'
  3. ground — the earth
  4. charge — electricity
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. ground — a position
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. mine — for digging
  9. saw — the tool
  10. charge — in control
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. capital — a city
  13. press — a publisher
  14. saw — the tool
  15. spring — a coil
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. charge — a price
  18. spring — of water
  19. spring — the season
  20. shower — to wash
  21. shower — rain
  22. press — newspapers
  23. capital — money
  24. ground — crushed

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