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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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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: press · fall · date · club · wind · capital · dip · chair

  1. Did you ________________ the button?
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. Have you settled on a ________________?
  6. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  11. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  12. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  15. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  16. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  17. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  18. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  19. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  20. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  21. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  22. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.

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

Answer key

  1. press — to push
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. wind — moving air
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. chair — a leader
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. capital — money
  9. wind — moving air
  10. club — for golf
  11. fall — to drop
  12. club — for dancing
  13. capital — a city
  14. fall — the season
  15. dip — to sink
  16. dip — to dunk
  17. fall — to drop
  18. press — newspapers
  19. date — the fruit
  20. club — a group
  21. dip — a sauce
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. press — a publisher

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