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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. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. Did you ________________ the button?
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  18. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  19. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.

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

Answer key

  1. press — a publisher
  2. kid — to tease
  3. kid — child
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. press — to push
  6. march — music
  7. press — newspapers
  8. march — the month
  9. face — part of the head
  10. game — wild animals
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. face — to confront
  13. game — a match
  14. march — the month
  15. mine — for digging
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. bass — low music
  18. bass — the instrument
  19. bass — the fish
  20. shower — rain
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. shower — to wash
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. face — to point toward

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