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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. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  2. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. Did you ________________ the button?
  10. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  11. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  12. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  13. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  14. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  15. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  18. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  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. bear — the animal
  2. rule — a law
  3. cold — an illness
  4. field — for sport
  5. scale — size or range
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. bear — to put up with
  8. field — a subject
  9. press — to push
  10. press — a publisher
  11. rule — to rule out
  12. scale — for weighing
  13. bear — the animal
  14. club — for dancing
  15. rule — government
  16. wound — an injury
  17. scale — in music
  18. club — a group
  19. cold — not warm
  20. wound — an injury
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. field — farmland
  23. club — for 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