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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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468
Word bank
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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. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  7. Did you ________________ the button?
  8. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  9. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  19. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  20. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  23. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  24. The elephant has a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. bowl — a football final
  4. prune — to trim
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. trunk — of a car
  7. press — to push
  8. snap — to speak sharply
  9. snap — to snap out of it
  10. cold — an illness
  11. press — a publisher
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. trunk — of a tree
  14. cold — not warm
  15. cell — in biology
  16. prune — the fruit
  17. game — a match
  18. prune — to trim
  19. snap — to click
  20. bowl — to roll
  21. game — wild animals
  22. bowl — a dish
  23. press — newspapers
  24. trunk — of an elephant

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