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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 kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  6. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  7. Did you ________________ the button?
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. The tickets are free of ________________.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  21. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  24. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — for weighing
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. track — a song
  4. cold — an illness
  5. charge — in control
  6. track — to keep track
  7. press — to push
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. charge — a price
  10. mine — for digging
  11. spring — a coil
  12. bark — to shout
  13. track — a path
  14. spring — of water
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. scale — size or range
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. cold — not warm
  20. scale — in music
  21. press — newspapers
  22. spring — the season
  23. charge — electricity
  24. press — a publisher

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