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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. Did you ________________ the button?
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The light ________________ burned out.
  6. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. I've got to change the light ________________.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  16. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  19. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  20. We're on a ________________ here.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  23. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  24. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.

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

Answer key

  1. press — to push
  2. kid — child
  3. cold — an illness
  4. cold — not warm
  5. bulb — for light
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. ground — a position
  9. kid — to tease
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. field — a subject
  12. ground — crushed
  13. bulb — for light
  14. field — farmland
  15. press — a publisher
  16. roll — a cake
  17. field — for sport
  18. roll — a list
  19. ground — the earth
  20. roll — on a roll
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. bulb — of a plant
  23. perch — the fish
  24. press — newspapers

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