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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. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  7. We're almost out of ________________.
  8. Did you ________________ the button?
  9. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  12. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  15. Did you ________________ the meat?
  16. You don't need to ________________ round.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  22. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  23. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. root — of a word
  2. last — finally
  3. last — final
  4. season — in sport
  5. last — to go on
  6. pop — music
  7. pop — soda
  8. press — to push
  9. season — of the year
  10. chest — of your body
  11. press — newspapers
  12. press — a publisher
  13. spring — of water
  14. net — for catching
  15. season — to add flavour
  16. pop — to visit
  17. chest — a box
  18. root — the cause
  19. spring — a coil
  20. chest — of your body
  21. root — of a plant
  22. net — in sport
  23. net — after costs
  24. spring — the season

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