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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: last · pop · cold · hide · press · capital · face · deal

  1. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  4. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  5. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  6. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  7. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  8. Did you ________________ the button?
  9. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. You don't need to ________________ round.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  16. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  17. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  18. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  19. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. We're almost out of ________________.
  23. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. cold — not warm
  3. hide — to keep secret
  4. deal — an agreement
  5. press — a publisher
  6. face — part of the head
  7. face — to point toward
  8. press — to push
  9. pop — music
  10. capital — money
  11. capital — a city
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. pop — to visit
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. press — newspapers
  16. last — final
  17. face — to confront
  18. deal — to handle
  19. deal — a big deal
  20. cold — an illness
  21. last — finally
  22. pop — soda
  23. hide — animal skin
  24. last — to go on

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