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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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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: ground · last · press · stem · fall · bulb · game · content

  1. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  4. Did you ________________ the button?
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  7. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  8. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  13. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  14. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. There's no middle ________________.
  17. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  18. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  19. I've got to change the light ________________.
  20. The light ________________ burned out.
  21. False peace will not ________________.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  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. ground — crushed
  2. content — the amount
  3. ground — the earth
  4. press — to push
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. stem — to come from
  7. fall — to drop
  8. fall — the season
  9. game — wild animals
  10. fall — to drop
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. stem — of a plant
  13. press — a publisher
  14. bulb — of a plant
  15. game — a match
  16. ground — a position
  17. last — final
  18. stem — a stem cell
  19. bulb — for light
  20. bulb — for light
  21. last — to go on
  22. last — finally
  23. content — happy
  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