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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  5. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  6. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. That must've been a ________________.
  12. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  17. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  18. Did you ________________ the button?
  19. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  20. Where did you ________________ them?
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. root — of a word
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. squash — to crush
  5. rush — to hurry
  6. squash — the vegetable
  7. field — for sport
  8. root — of a plant
  9. field — a subject
  10. field — farmland
  11. rush — a thrill
  12. press — a publisher
  13. hand — help
  14. rush — hurry
  15. hand — in cards
  16. mug — a face
  17. press — newspapers
  18. press — to push
  19. squash — the sport
  20. mug — to rob
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. mug — a cup
  23. content — the amount
  24. root — the cause

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