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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 ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  9. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  10. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  13. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  14. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  15. Where did you ________________ them?
  16. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. There's no middle ________________.
  19. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. Did you ________________ the button?

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

Answer key

  1. ground — the earth
  2. cold — an illness
  3. field — a subject
  4. field — farmland
  5. mug — a face
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. cold — not warm
  8. mug — a cup
  9. chair — a professorship
  10. snap — to click
  11. chair — a leader
  12. chair — to sit on
  13. ground — crushed
  14. snap — to snap out of it
  15. mug — to rob
  16. press — a publisher
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. ground — a position
  19. press — newspapers
  20. bat — the animal
  21. field — for sport
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. press — to push

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