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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. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  2. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  5. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  6. Did you ________________ the button?
  7. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  15. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  18. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  19. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a fruit stone
  2. bass — the instrument
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. rest — what's left
  5. scale — for weighing
  6. press — to push
  7. pit — in a race
  8. wind — moving air
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. press — newspapers
  11. field — farmland
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. wind — moving air
  14. rest — a break
  15. scale — size or range
  16. field — a subject
  17. press — a publisher
  18. rest — what's left
  19. bass — the fish
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. scale — in music
  22. pit — a hole
  23. field — for sport
  24. bass — low music

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