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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. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. He was locked up in a ________________.
  4. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  5. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  6. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. We're almost out of ________________.
  11. You don't need to ________________ round.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  19. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. Did you ________________ the button?
  24. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. race — a contest
  3. cell — in a prison
  4. press — a publisher
  5. pop — music
  6. root — of a plant
  7. wind — moving air
  8. wind — moving air
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. pop — soda
  11. pop — to visit
  12. chest — of your body
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. mine — for digging
  15. chest — a box
  16. chest — of your body
  17. race — the arms race
  18. press — newspapers
  19. root — of a word
  20. race — humankind
  21. cell — a phone
  22. cell — in biology
  23. press — to push
  24. root — the cause

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