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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: pitcher · date · capital · track · content · mine · press · clip

  1. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  4. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. He is an ace ________________.
  11. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  14. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. Did you ________________ the button?
  18. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. Have you settled on a ________________?
  24. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. press — a publisher
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. track — a path
  4. track — to keep track
  5. capital — a city
  6. mine — for digging
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. capital — money
  10. pitcher — in baseball
  11. date — on the calendar
  12. clip — a video
  13. press — newspapers
  14. track — a song
  15. content — the amount
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. press — to push
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. date — the fruit
  21. clip — for paper
  22. clip — to cut
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. content — happy

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