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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. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  8. The tickets are free of ________________.
  9. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  10. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  15. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  20. The ________________ market has crashed.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. Should I buy a wireless ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. press — to push
  2. cell — a phone
  3. field — a subject
  4. mouse — the animal
  5. shower — to wash
  6. shower — rain
  7. cell — in biology
  8. charge — a price
  9. charge — electricity
  10. mouse — the animal
  11. field — for sport
  12. charge — in control
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. press — newspapers
  15. stock — a soup base
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. stock — goods
  18. cold — an illness
  19. press — a publisher
  20. stock — shares
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. cold — not warm
  23. field — farmland
  24. mouse — for a computer

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