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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: bark · firm · row · cold · stem · pop · capital · press

  1. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  2. We're almost out of ________________.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  5. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  6. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  17. Did you ________________ the button?
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  20. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. You don't need to ________________ round.

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

Answer key

  1. firm — steady
  2. pop — soda
  3. capital — money
  4. pop — music
  5. row — to paddle
  6. bark — of a tree
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. firm — decided
  9. row — a line
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. bark — to shout
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. firm — a company
  14. cold — not warm
  15. cold — an illness
  16. stem — of a plant
  17. press — to push
  18. capital — a city
  19. press — newspapers
  20. press — a publisher
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. stem — to come from
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. pop — to visit

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