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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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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: kid · press · last · race · capital · scale · wound · pound

  1. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  3. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  4. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  5. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. Did you ________________ the button?
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  13. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  24. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. scale — size or range
  3. race — the arms race
  4. wound — past of 'wind'
  5. scale — for weighing
  6. wound — an injury
  7. press — to push
  8. kid — to tease
  9. last — final
  10. race — humankind
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. press — a publisher
  13. pound — for dogs
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. pound — a weight
  16. wound — an injury
  17. kid — child
  18. pound — to hit hard
  19. scale — in music
  20. capital — a city
  21. press — newspapers
  22. last — finally
  23. last — to go on
  24. race — a contest

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