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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. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  2. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  7. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  8. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  9. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Did you ________________ the button?
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  22. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  23. I'll be taking the ________________.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. staff — employees
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. prune — to trim
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. content — the amount
  7. prune — to trim
  8. tube — in a tire
  9. staff — employees
  10. court — for sport
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. tube — a container
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. press — newspapers
  15. cold — not warm
  16. cold — an illness
  17. press — to push
  18. court — of a king
  19. content — happy
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. staff — a stick
  22. press — a publisher
  23. tube — the underground
  24. mine — for digging

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