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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. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. Did you ________________ the button?
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  10. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  14. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  15. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  20. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.

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

Answer key

  1. race — a contest
  2. field — for sport
  3. press — to push
  4. prune — to trim
  5. field — farmland
  6. cold — an illness
  7. race — humankind
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. pit — in a race
  10. pit — a hole
  11. field — a subject
  12. race — the arms race
  13. press — newspapers
  14. current — electric
  15. current — happening now
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. hand — in cards
  19. pit — a fruit stone
  20. current — of water
  21. prune — to trim
  22. hand — help
  23. cold — not warm
  24. press — a publisher

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