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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. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  3. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  8. Did you ________________ the button?
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  11. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  12. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  17. Don't do anything ________________.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  20. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  21. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  22. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  23. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  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. bowl — a dish
  2. bass — the fish
  3. mark — a trace
  4. prune — to trim
  5. press — a publisher
  6. bark — to shout
  7. net — after costs
  8. press — to push
  9. net — in sport
  10. bark — a dog's sound
  11. bass — the instrument
  12. bowl — a football final
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. prune — to trim
  16. mark — to pay attention
  17. rash — hasty
  18. net — for catching
  19. rash — a series
  20. bass — low music
  21. bowl — to roll
  22. rash — on the skin
  23. mark — a grade
  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