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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. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  11. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  12. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  16. Did you ________________ the button?
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. The ________________ took off on time.
  19. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  22. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  23. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  24. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.

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

Answer key

  1. track — to keep track
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. mine — for digging
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. pit — a fruit stone
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. row — to paddle
  8. cold — not warm
  9. row — a line
  10. pit — a hole
  11. press — a publisher
  12. band — a rubber band
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. cold — an illness
  15. track — a song
  16. press — to push
  17. band — a music group
  18. plane — an aircraft
  19. plane — a tool
  20. band — a ring
  21. plane — in geometry
  22. press — newspapers
  23. pit — in a race
  24. track — a path

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