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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. Did you ________________ the button?
  2. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  3. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  4. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  5. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  6. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  7. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  8. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  9. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  12. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  16. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. press — to push
  2. current — of water
  3. kick — with a leg
  4. cap — a lid
  5. kick — in football
  6. kick — a thrill
  7. trunk — of a car
  8. net — in sport
  9. current — happening now
  10. field — farmland
  11. trunk — of an elephant
  12. press — a publisher
  13. field — for sport
  14. kid — child
  15. current — electric
  16. press — newspapers
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. net — for catching
  19. cap — of ice
  20. kid — to tease
  21. trunk — of a tree
  22. net — after costs
  23. cap — a hat
  24. field — a subject

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