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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 116 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. Did you ________________ the button?
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  10. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  11. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  12. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  15. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  16. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  19. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  20. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  21. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. press — to push
  2. spring — of water
  3. net — in sport
  4. patient — calm and waiting
  5. kid — child
  6. game — wild animals
  7. game — a match
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. net — after costs
  11. fork — a garden tool
  12. fork — to eat with
  13. spring — the season
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. trunk — of a car
  16. trunk — of a tree
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. press — a publisher
  19. net — for catching
  20. trunk — of an elephant
  21. fork — in a road
  22. spring — a coil
  23. press — newspapers
  24. kid — to tease

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