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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. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  2. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  5. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  6. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  7. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  8. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  9. Have you settled on a ________________?
  10. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  11. Did you ________________ the button?
  12. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  15. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  19. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  23. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  24. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.

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

Answer key

  1. date — the fruit
  2. pitch — completely
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. trunk — of a car
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. pitch — a sales talk
  7. pit — in a race
  8. pit — a hole
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. press — a publisher
  11. press — to push
  12. trunk — of a tree
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. trunk — of an elephant
  15. pit — a fruit stone
  16. wind — moving air
  17. cold — an illness
  18. fan — to cool the air
  19. fan — a supporter
  20. cold — not warm
  21. wind — moving air
  22. pitch — a sports field
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. press — newspapers

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