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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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468
Word bank
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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. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  2. That was ________________ to happen.
  3. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  4. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  5. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  10. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  11. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  12. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  16. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  17. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. Did you ________________ the button?

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a hole
  2. bound — certain
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. press — a publisher
  8. cold — an illness
  9. perch — the fish
  10. pit — a fruit stone
  11. bound — tied together
  12. press — newspapers
  13. content — happy
  14. wound — an injury
  15. fan — to cool the air
  16. bound — obliged
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. cold — not warm
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. content — the amount
  21. pit — in a race
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. wound — an injury
  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