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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: court · mine · press · bore · capital · last · file · cap

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. Did you ________________ the button?
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  18. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  21. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. The polar ice ________________ is melting.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. bore — gave birth
  3. file — a tool
  4. court — of law
  5. court — for sport
  6. last — to go on
  7. cap — a lid
  8. capital — money
  9. last — finally
  10. press — to push
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. court — of a king
  14. file — a line of people
  15. bore — to drill
  16. capital — a city
  17. bore — to tire
  18. cap — a hat
  19. file — a document
  20. press — newspapers
  21. press — a publisher
  22. mine — for digging
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. cap — of ice

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