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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. David sat on the ________________.
  2. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  14. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. The King held a masked ________________.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  20. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  21. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  24. Did you ________________ the button?

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. ball — a great time
  3. spring — of water
  4. spring — the season
  5. firm — decided
  6. mine — for digging
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. firm — steady
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. field — farmland
  11. swing — in golf
  12. field — for sport
  13. press — newspapers
  14. press — a publisher
  15. spring — a coil
  16. field — a subject
  17. ball — a dance
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. snap — to click
  20. firm — a company
  21. ball — a round shape
  22. swing — music
  23. snap — to snap out of it
  24. press — to push

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