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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. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  4. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  13. There's no middle ________________.
  14. Did you ________________ the button?
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  22. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  23. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  24. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — to crush
  2. wind — moving air
  3. press — newspapers
  4. squash — the sport
  5. bark — to shout
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. game — wild animals
  8. ground — the earth
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. dip — to sink
  11. wind — moving air
  12. press — a publisher
  13. ground — a position
  14. press — to push
  15. chest — of your body
  16. game — a match
  17. chest — of your body
  18. bark — a dog's sound
  19. chest — a box
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. squash — the vegetable
  22. ground — crushed
  23. dip — to dunk
  24. dip — a sauce

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