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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 water is too ________________.
  2. Did you ________________ the button?
  3. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  4. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  5. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. The King held a masked ________________.
  8. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  9. There's no middle ________________.
  10. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  11. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  14. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  15. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  16. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  17. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  18. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  19. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  20. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. I would like to have a ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. press — to push
  3. ground — the earth
  4. press — a publisher
  5. rest — what's left
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. ball — a dance
  8. face — to confront
  9. ground — a position
  10. trunk — of an elephant
  11. trunk — of a car
  12. field — a subject
  13. face — to point toward
  14. face — part of the head
  15. ground — crushed
  16. trunk — of a tree
  17. ball — a round shape
  18. press — newspapers
  19. rest — what's left
  20. ball — a great time
  21. field — for sport
  22. cold — an illness
  23. field — farmland
  24. rest — a break

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