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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: prune · drill · game · content · press · wound

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Did you ________________ the button?
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  7. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  8. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  14. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. press — to push
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. content — the amount
  5. game — wild animals
  6. press — a publisher
  7. drill — a practice
  8. prune — to trim
  9. game — a match
  10. wound — an injury
  11. drill — army training
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. prune — the fruit
  14. press — newspapers
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. wound — an injury
  17. drill — the tool
  18. prune — to trim

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