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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 116 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. David sat on the ________________.
  2. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  3. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  10. Did you ________________ the button?
  11. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  12. We're almost out of ________________.
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  16. You don't need to ________________ round.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  21. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  24. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. pop — music
  3. face — to point toward
  4. last — final
  5. land — to come down
  6. last — to go on
  7. face — part of the head
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. press — newspapers
  10. press — to push
  11. press — a publisher
  12. pop — soda
  13. last — finally
  14. land — ground
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. pop — to visit
  17. swing — in golf
  18. land — a country
  19. row — to paddle
  20. face — to confront
  21. perch — the fish
  22. swing — music
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. row — a line

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