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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. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  2. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  9. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Did you ________________ the button?
  17. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  20. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  21. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  22. There's no middle ________________.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a song
  2. drill — the tool
  3. spring — the season
  4. cold — not warm
  5. snap — to click
  6. ground — the earth
  7. ground — crushed
  8. drill — army training
  9. track — to keep track
  10. spring — a coil
  11. press — a publisher
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. spring — of water
  14. press — newspapers
  15. cold — an illness
  16. press — to push
  17. drill — a practice
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. snap — to speak sharply
  20. cell — a phone
  21. track — a path
  22. ground — a position
  23. cell — in biology
  24. snap — to snap out of it

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