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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 116 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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. Don't do anything ________________.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  7. He is an ace ________________.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. Did you ________________ the button?
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  14. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  17. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. press — a publisher
  2. row — a line
  3. rash — hasty
  4. field — for sport
  5. land — a country
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. pitcher — in baseball
  8. field — a subject
  9. press — to push
  10. ground — a position
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. rash — a series
  14. ground — the earth
  15. field — farmland
  16. ground — crushed
  17. rash — on the skin
  18. row — to paddle
  19. land — to come down
  20. land — ground
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. press — newspapers
  24. straw — dry grass

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