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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 ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  4. Did you ________________ the button?
  5. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  8. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  9. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  10. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  16. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  17. Don't do anything ________________.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  20. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  23. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  24. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.

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

Answer key

  1. root — of a word
  2. cell — a phone
  3. press — a publisher
  4. press — to push
  5. face — to confront
  6. prune — to trim
  7. net — after costs
  8. prune — to trim
  9. rash — on the skin
  10. ruler — for measuring
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. net — in sport
  13. ruler — a monarch
  14. cell — in biology
  15. face — part of the head
  16. root — the cause
  17. rash — hasty
  18. net — for catching
  19. ruler — for measuring
  20. face — to point toward
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. rash — a series
  23. root — of a plant
  24. press — newspapers

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