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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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  7. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  8. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  11. I've got to change the light ________________.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. The light ________________ burned out.
  14. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  15. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  16. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  19. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  20. Did you ________________ the button?
  21. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. The ball is in your ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. pit — a hole
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. court — of law
  6. pit — in a race
  7. pit — a fruit stone
  8. patient — calm and waiting
  9. court — of a king
  10. snap — to speak sharply
  11. bulb — for light
  12. cell — a phone
  13. bulb — for light
  14. press — a publisher
  15. bulb — of a plant
  16. snap — to snap out of it
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. press — to push
  21. press — newspapers
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. cell — in biology
  24. court — for sport

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