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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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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. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. It's one o'clock ________________.
  3. Did you ________________ the button?
  4. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  5. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. sharp — exactly
  3. press — to push
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. press — newspapers
  6. last — finally
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. last — to go on
  9. press — a publisher
  10. clip — a video
  11. sharp — clever
  12. field — farmland
  13. patient — calm and waiting
  14. clip — to cut
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. march — the month
  18. sharp — with an edge
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. march — the month
  21. march — music
  22. last — final
  23. field — a subject
  24. clip — for paper

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