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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. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. Did you ________________ the button?
  6. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. How do you ________________ your surname?
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  23. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  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. spell — magic
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. bowl — to roll
  4. field — a subject
  5. press — to push
  6. bear — to put up with
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. bear — the animal
  9. field — for sport
  10. bowl — a dish
  11. bat — the animal
  12. hand — in cards
  13. field — farmland
  14. press — a publisher
  15. chest — of your body
  16. hand — help
  17. spell — letters
  18. spell — a short time
  19. chest — of your body
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. chest — a box
  22. bowl — a football final
  23. bear — the animal
  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