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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 116 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. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  2. It's one o'clock ________________.
  3. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  4. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  8. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  11. Did you ________________ the button?
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  14. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  15. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  16. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  17. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  18. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. There's no middle ________________.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  23. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — to cool the air
  2. sharp — exactly
  3. pitch — a sports field
  4. fine — all right
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. fine — a penalty
  8. ground — crushed
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. fine — high quality
  11. press — to push
  12. bat — the animal
  13. sharp — clever
  14. pitch — a sales talk
  15. press — newspapers
  16. pitch — completely
  17. fan — a supporter
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. cold — an illness
  20. ground — a position
  21. ground — the earth
  22. press — a publisher
  23. sharp — with an edge
  24. cold — not warm

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