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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 120 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. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  2. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  3. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  4. Did you ________________ the button?
  5. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  6. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  7. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  17. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  18. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  21. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. The ________________ market has crashed.
  24. I'd like to play a game of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. squash — to crush
  3. bass — low music
  4. press — to push
  5. wake — to stop sleeping
  6. press — a publisher
  7. bass — the instrument
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. wake — before a funeral
  11. cell — a phone
  12. press — newspapers
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. stock — goods
  15. cold — not warm
  16. squash — the vegetable
  17. bass — the fish
  18. wake — a trail
  19. cold — an illness
  20. band — a music group
  21. band — a ring
  22. cell — in biology
  23. stock — shares
  24. squash — the sport

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