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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. Did you ________________ the button?
  2. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  4. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  5. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  9. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  12. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  13. What do you think of the new ________________?
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  17. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  22. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. press — to push
  2. squash — the sport
  3. branch — of a tree
  4. cap — a lid
  5. branch — a division
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. bat — the animal
  8. press — a publisher
  9. cap — of ice
  10. band — a ring
  11. squash — to crush
  12. branch — of a bank
  13. cabinet — ministers
  14. field — farmland
  15. band — a music group
  16. press — newspapers
  17. squash — the vegetable
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. cabinet — ministers
  20. field — a subject
  21. cabinet — a cupboard
  22. cap — a hat
  23. field — for sport
  24. band — a rubber band

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