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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: press · cold · wound · bass · content · nail · tear · capital

  1. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  14. The ________________ went through the wall.
  15. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  16. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  17. Did you ________________ the button?
  18. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  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. cold — the Cold War
  2. tear — from crying
  3. nail — for a hammer
  4. content — happy
  5. capital — money
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. bass — low music
  8. cold — an illness
  9. cold — not warm
  10. tear — to rip
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. wound — an injury
  13. bass — the instrument
  14. nail — for a hammer
  15. press — newspapers
  16. bass — the fish
  17. press — to push
  18. nail — on a finger
  19. wound — an injury
  20. capital — a city
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. content — the amount
  23. tear — from crying
  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