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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. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  6. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  7. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  8. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  9. Have you found your soul ________________?
  10. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  11. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  12. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  13. Did you ________________ the button?
  14. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  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. field — for sport
  2. pitch — a sales talk
  3. swing — to play on
  4. cell — a phone
  5. swing — music
  6. press — a publisher
  7. fall — to drop
  8. press — newspapers
  9. mate — a partner
  10. mate — to breed
  11. fall — to drop
  12. net — for catching
  13. press — to push
  14. pitch — completely
  15. net — in sport
  16. fall — the season
  17. cell — in biology
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. pitch — a sports field
  20. swing — in golf
  21. field — farmland
  22. net — after costs
  23. mate — a friend
  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