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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. Did you ________________ the button?
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  4. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  8. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  9. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  10. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  11. Did you ________________ the meat?
  12. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  13. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  14. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  15. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  20. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  21. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  22. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. press — to push
  2. field — a subject
  3. fork — a garden tool
  4. bowl — a football final
  5. field — farmland
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. branch — a division
  8. bowl — a dish
  9. branch — of a tree
  10. scale — in music
  11. season — to add flavour
  12. bowl — to roll
  13. fork — in a road
  14. press — newspapers
  15. season — of the year
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. field — for sport
  19. branch — of a bank
  20. press — a publisher
  21. fork — to eat with
  22. season — in sport
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. scale — size or range

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