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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. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  11. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  12. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  13. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  17. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  18. He is an ace ________________.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  22. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. Did you ________________ the button?

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. prune — to trim
  3. press — a publisher
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. prune — to trim
  6. last — finally
  7. land — to come down
  8. chair — to sit on
  9. court — of a king
  10. lie — to recline
  11. lie — an untruth
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. prune — the fruit
  14. court — of law
  15. court — for sport
  16. chair — a leader
  17. last — final
  18. pitcher — in baseball
  19. land — a country
  20. last — to go on
  21. lie — an untruth
  22. press — newspapers
  23. land — ground
  24. press — to push

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