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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. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  9. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  10. Did you ________________ the meat?
  11. I can't ________________ this cold.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. Did you ________________ the button?
  17. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  18. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  19. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  20. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  21. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  22. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. season — in sport
  3. degree — from a university
  4. bat — the animal
  5. lean — to bend
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. degree — an amount
  8. lean — thin
  9. chip — in a computer
  10. season — to add flavour
  11. stand — to bear
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. stand — on your feet
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. game — a match
  16. press — to push
  17. press — a publisher
  18. press — newspapers
  19. lean — to rest against
  20. chip — to eat
  21. stand — for spectators
  22. season — of the year
  23. degree — temperature
  24. chip — for betting

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