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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. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  2. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  3. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  4. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  5. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  6. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  10. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  11. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. David sat on the ________________.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  20. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  21. Did you ________________ the button?
  22. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  23. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  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. fan — to cool the air
  2. fork — to eat with
  3. face — to confront
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. craft — a skill
  6. craft — a handicraft
  7. field — farmland
  8. swing — in golf
  9. craft — boats
  10. swing — music
  11. face — part of the head
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. swing — to play on
  14. field — a subject
  15. face — to point toward
  16. cold — an illness
  17. field — for sport
  18. cold — not warm
  19. press — a publisher
  20. fork — a garden tool
  21. press — to push
  22. fan — a supporter
  23. fork — in a road
  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