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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. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  2. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. Did you ________________ the button?
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  18. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  19. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  20. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  21. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  22. It's one o'clock ________________.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  24. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the vegetable
  2. sharp — with an edge
  3. wound — an injury
  4. squash — to crush
  5. game — wild animals
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. press — newspapers
  8. bat — the animal
  9. wound — an injury
  10. press — to push
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. prune — to trim
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. press — a publisher
  15. game — a match
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. net — for catching
  18. squash — the sport
  19. net — after costs
  20. prune — to trim
  21. sharp — clever
  22. sharp — exactly
  23. prune — the fruit
  24. net — in sport

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