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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: craft · bat · press · squash · capital · snap · cell · perch

  1. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  7. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  8. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  9. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  12. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  20. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  21. Did you ________________ the button?
  22. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  23. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the vegetable
  2. capital — a city
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. squash — to crush
  7. craft — boats
  8. press — a publisher
  9. snap — to click
  10. cell — a phone
  11. perch — the fish
  12. snap — to speak sharply
  13. cell — in biology
  14. squash — the sport
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. snap — to snap out of it
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. bat — the animal
  19. craft — a handicraft
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. press — to push
  22. press — newspapers
  23. craft — a skill
  24. capital — money

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