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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  3. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  7. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  8. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  9. Did you ________________ the meat?
  10. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. Did you ________________ the button?
  13. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  14. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  15. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  18. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  19. How do you ________________ your surname?
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. spell — a short time
  3. season — of the year
  4. march — the month
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. dip — to sink
  7. stem — of a plant
  8. spell — magic
  9. season — to add flavour
  10. season — in sport
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. press — to push
  13. stem — to come from
  14. press — newspapers
  15. press — a publisher
  16. bat — the animal
  17. stem — a stem cell
  18. dip — to dunk
  19. spell — letters
  20. march — music
  21. march — the month
  22. dip — a sauce
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. kid — child

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