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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 124 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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. Did you ________________ the button?
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  11. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  14. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  15. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  16. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  17. The ________________ went through the wall.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  23. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. press — to push
  3. cold — an illness
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. field — for sport
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. staff — employees
  9. wind — moving air
  10. nail — for a hammer
  11. staff — employees
  12. cold — not warm
  13. staff — a stick
  14. snap — to click
  15. press — newspapers
  16. press — a publisher
  17. nail — for a hammer
  18. field — a subject
  19. file — a line of people
  20. file — a document
  21. wind — moving air
  22. snap — to speak sharply
  23. nail — on a finger
  24. file — a tool

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