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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. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  8. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  11. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  12. Did you ________________ the button?
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  17. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. ground — a position
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. tear — to rip
  5. squash — the sport
  6. row — a line
  7. press — newspapers
  8. press — a publisher
  9. spring — of water
  10. racket — a loud noise
  11. squash — to crush
  12. press — to push
  13. tear — from crying
  14. tear — from crying
  15. game — a match
  16. squash — the vegetable
  17. ground — crushed
  18. spring — the season
  19. row — to paddle
  20. spring — a coil
  21. ground — the earth
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. racket — for tennis
  24. game — wild animals

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