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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. Did you ________________ the button?
  5. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. We're almost out of ________________.
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. David sat on the ________________.
  13. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  16. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. The ________________ market has crashed.
  21. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  22. You don't need to ________________ round.
  23. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  24. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. stock — a soup base
  3. band — a ring
  4. press — to push
  5. swing — music
  6. land — ground
  7. band — a music group
  8. pop — music
  9. land — a country
  10. pop — soda
  11. chair — a leader
  12. swing — to play on
  13. chair — a professorship
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. chair — to sit on
  16. stock — goods
  17. hand — in cards
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. land — to come down
  20. stock — shares
  21. press — a publisher
  22. pop — to visit
  23. swing — in golf
  24. press — newspapers

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