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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: press · field · cold · charge · court · leaves · spring · nail

  1. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  2. The tickets are free of ________________.
  3. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  7. Did you ________________ the button?
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. The ________________ went through the wall.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  18. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  19. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  20. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. The ball is in your ________________.
  23. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  24. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. charge — a price
  3. charge — electricity
  4. field — farmland
  5. field — a subject
  6. nail — on a finger
  7. press — to push
  8. field — for sport
  9. nail — for a hammer
  10. cold — not warm
  11. spring — a coil
  12. court — of a king
  13. leaves — to go away
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. cold — an illness
  16. spring — of water
  17. leaves — of a tree
  18. press — a publisher
  19. leaves — lets stay
  20. press — newspapers
  21. spring — the season
  22. court — for sport
  23. charge — in control
  24. nail — for a hammer

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