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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. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  2. Don't do anything ________________.
  3. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  4. We're on a ________________ here.
  5. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  6. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  9. There's no middle ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  12. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  13. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  14. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. Did you ________________ the button?
  17. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  18. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  19. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. Add some ________________ pepper to it.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. rash — hasty
  3. ground — the earth
  4. roll — on a roll
  5. roll — a cake
  6. rash — on the skin
  7. court — for sport
  8. press — a publisher
  9. ground — a position
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. press — newspapers
  12. squash — the vegetable
  13. race — humankind
  14. squash — the sport
  15. race — the arms race
  16. press — to push
  17. rash — a series
  18. squash — to crush
  19. roll — a list
  20. court — of a king
  21. race — a contest
  22. cold — not warm
  23. cold — an illness
  24. ground — crushed

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