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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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  4. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  11. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  12. Did you ________________ the button?
  13. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  14. False peace will not ________________.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  20. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  21. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  24. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. field — for sport
  3. snap — to snap out of it
  4. press — a publisher
  5. wind — moving air
  6. snap — to speak sharply
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. wound — an injury
  9. field — a subject
  10. firm — steady
  11. perch — the fish
  12. press — to push
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. last — to go on
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. wound — an injury
  17. wind — moving air
  18. last — finally
  19. firm — a company
  20. firm — decided
  21. last — final
  22. field — farmland
  23. press — newspapers
  24. perch — for a bird

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