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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. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. Did you ________________ the button?
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  7. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  11. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. press — to push
  3. content — happy
  4. content — the amount
  5. field — a subject
  6. spell — magic
  7. stem — of a plant
  8. band — a music group
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. stem — to come from
  11. press — newspapers
  12. mine — for digging
  13. field — for sport
  14. band — a ring
  15. field — farmland
  16. press — a publisher
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. stem — a stem cell
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. spell — a short time

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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