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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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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: saw · cold · shower · season · game · nail · press · field

  1. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. Did you ________________ the meat?
  6. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  7. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  8. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. The ________________ went through the wall.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. Did you ________________ the button?
  16. She's very handy with a ________________.
  17. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  20. He works in a ________________ mill.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. cold — not warm
  3. press — a publisher
  4. shower — rain
  5. season — to add flavour
  6. nail — for a hammer
  7. season — of the year
  8. nail — on a finger
  9. field — farmland
  10. saw — past of 'see'
  11. shower — to wash
  12. nail — for a hammer
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. cold — an illness
  15. press — to push
  16. saw — the tool
  17. season — in sport
  18. game — wild animals
  19. press — newspapers
  20. saw — the tool
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. field — for sport
  23. game — a match
  24. cold — the Cold War

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