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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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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. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  3. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  4. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  5. Did you ________________ the button?
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  9. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  18. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. ruler — a monarch
  3. race — a contest
  4. pitch — a sports field
  5. press — to push
  6. mine — for digging
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. ruler — for measuring
  9. ruler — for measuring
  10. cold — an illness
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. pitch — a sales talk
  13. race — the arms race
  14. cold — not warm
  15. race — humankind
  16. row — a line
  17. pitch — completely
  18. press — a publisher
  19. row — to paddle
  20. land — a country
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. land — ground
  23. land — to come down
  24. press — newspapers

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