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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 116 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 · staff · pit · field · press · cold · nail · kick

  1. Did you ________________ the button?
  2. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  3. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  4. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  9. He works in a ________________ mill.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  13. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  14. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  15. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  16. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. She's very handy with a ________________.
  19. The ________________ went through the wall.
  20. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  23. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  24. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.

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

Answer key

  1. press — to push
  2. staff — employees
  3. staff — a stick
  4. staff — employees
  5. cold — not warm
  6. pit — in a race
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. pit — a hole
  9. saw — the tool
  10. cold — an illness
  11. field — a subject
  12. pit — a fruit stone
  13. saw — past of 'see'
  14. nail — on a finger
  15. press — newspapers
  16. kick — a thrill
  17. field — for sport
  18. saw — the tool
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. press — a publisher
  21. field — farmland
  22. kick — in football
  23. nail — for a hammer
  24. kick — with a leg

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