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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. Did you ________________ the button?
  2. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  3. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  9. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  10. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  13. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  18. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  22. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.

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

Answer key

  1. press — to push
  2. calf — of the leg
  3. branch — of a bank
  4. field — for sport
  5. hide — to keep secret
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. cold — not warm
  8. hide — to keep secret
  9. rest — a break
  10. hide — animal skin
  11. spring — of water
  12. calf — a young animal
  13. branch — of a tree
  14. cold — an illness
  15. rest — what's left
  16. spring — a coil
  17. press — newspapers
  18. press — a publisher
  19. spring — the season
  20. field — farmland
  21. rest — what's left
  22. branch — a division
  23. field — a subject
  24. calf — a young animal

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