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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. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  6. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  7. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  8. Did you ________________ the button?
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  16. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  17. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  23. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a football final
  2. ground — a position
  3. last — finally
  4. last — final
  5. bowl — a dish
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. ground — the earth
  8. press — to push
  9. last — to go on
  10. patient — a sick person
  11. court — for sport
  12. tear — from crying
  13. march — music
  14. tear — from crying
  15. ground — crushed
  16. press — a publisher
  17. bowl — to roll
  18. court — of a king
  19. tear — to rip
  20. march — the month
  21. court — of law
  22. press — newspapers
  23. patient — calm and waiting
  24. march — the month

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