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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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468
Word bank
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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'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  5. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  14. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  18. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  19. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  24. What was your ________________ profit last year?

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

Answer key

  1. press — to push
  2. land — ground
  3. snap — to click
  4. racket — for tennis
  5. snap — to snap out of it
  6. game — wild animals
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. racket — a loud noise
  9. land — to come down
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. racket — for tennis
  12. game — a match
  13. cap — a hat
  14. snap — to speak sharply
  15. row — a line
  16. net — for catching
  17. press — a publisher
  18. cap — of ice
  19. press — newspapers
  20. row — to paddle
  21. net — in sport
  22. land — a country
  23. cap — a lid
  24. net — after costs

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