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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. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  8. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  9. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  10. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  15. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  16. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  17. Did you ________________ the button?
  18. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  24. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. leaves — lets stay
  4. hand — help
  5. wax — to grow
  6. fall — to drop
  7. bowl — to roll
  8. root — of a plant
  9. wax — in the ear
  10. root — of a word
  11. hand — in cards
  12. root — the cause
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. leaves — of a tree
  15. fall — the season
  16. press — a publisher
  17. press — to push
  18. leaves — to go away
  19. spring — a coil
  20. spring — of water
  21. fall — to drop
  22. spring — the season
  23. press — newspapers
  24. bowl — a football final

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