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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. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  2. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  3. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  4. Did you ________________ the button?
  5. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  12. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  13. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  14. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  15. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  16. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  17. David sat on the ________________.
  18. The ________________ went through the wall.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  24. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.

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

Answer key

  1. press — a publisher
  2. wake — before a funeral
  3. wake — a trail
  4. press — to push
  5. nail — for a hammer
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. field — for sport
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. race — the arms race
  10. field — a subject
  11. swing — in golf
  12. wake — to stop sleeping
  13. swing — music
  14. race — humankind
  15. press — newspapers
  16. root — the cause
  17. swing — to play on
  18. nail — for a hammer
  19. mine — for digging
  20. race — a contest
  21. nail — on a finger
  22. field — farmland
  23. root — of a plant
  24. root — of a word

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