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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 took the fish out of the ________________.
  2. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. Did you ________________ the button?
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. David sat on the ________________.
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. What do you think of the new ________________?
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.

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

Answer key

  1. net — for catching
  2. press — newspapers
  3. net — after costs
  4. file — a tool
  5. net — in sport
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. field — farmland
  8. press — a publisher
  9. cold — not warm
  10. file — a line of people
  11. cold — an illness
  12. field — a subject
  13. content — happy
  14. press — to push
  15. field — for sport
  16. file — a document
  17. cabinet — a cupboard
  18. content — the amount
  19. swing — to play on
  20. swing — in golf
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. cabinet — ministers
  23. swing — music
  24. cabinet — ministers

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