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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. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  9. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. Did you ________________ the button?
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  17. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  18. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  19. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  20. He works in a ________________ mill.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. She's very handy with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. field — farmland
  3. press — a publisher
  4. content — the amount
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. content — happy
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. rule — to rule out
  9. snap — to snap out of it
  10. wind — moving air
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. snap — to speak sharply
  13. game — a match
  14. press — to push
  15. field — a subject
  16. rule — government
  17. snap — to click
  18. press — newspapers
  19. saw — past of 'see'
  20. saw — the tool
  21. field — for sport
  22. rule — a law
  23. game — wild animals
  24. saw — the tool

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