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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. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  4. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  7. False peace will not ________________.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  12. Did you ________________ the button?
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  15. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  16. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  17. You don't need to ________________ round.
  18. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  19. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  20. It's one o'clock ________________.
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  24. We're almost out of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to snap out of it
  2. kid — child
  3. press — a publisher
  4. snap — to speak sharply
  5. land — a country
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. last — to go on
  8. land — to come down
  9. patient — calm and waiting
  10. kid — to tease
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. press — to push
  13. land — ground
  14. sharp — clever
  15. press — newspapers
  16. sharp — with an edge
  17. pop — to visit
  18. last — final
  19. snap — to click
  20. sharp — exactly
  21. last — finally
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. pop — music
  24. pop — soda

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