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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. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  5. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  9. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  10. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  16. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. The ________________ market has crashed.
  22. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  23. The ball is in your ________________.
  24. Did you ________________ the button?

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

Answer key

  1. press — a publisher
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. court — of a king
  4. mark — to pay attention
  5. mark — a grade
  6. game — a match
  7. game — wild animals
  8. lie — an untruth
  9. mark — a trace
  10. stock — goods
  11. cold — an illness
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. court — of law
  14. field — a subject
  15. lie — an untruth
  16. lie — to recline
  17. field — farmland
  18. press — newspapers
  19. cold — not warm
  20. field — for sport
  21. stock — shares
  22. stock — a soup base
  23. court — for sport
  24. press — to push

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