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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 ball is in your ________________.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. Did you ________________ the button?
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. How do you ________________ your surname?
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  21. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  24. ________________ games are popular in Germany.

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

Answer key

  1. press — a publisher
  2. court — for sport
  3. court — of law
  4. spell — magic
  5. wind — moving air
  6. spring — of water
  7. court — of a king
  8. clip — to cut
  9. wind — moving air
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. clip — a video
  12. field — farmland
  13. board — a committee
  14. spring — a coil
  15. press — to push
  16. field — for sport
  17. spell — letters
  18. clip — for paper
  19. spring — the season
  20. spell — a short time
  21. board — to get on
  22. field — a subject
  23. press — newspapers
  24. board — a flat piece

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