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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: cold · stock · plane · lie · game · bowl · cell · press

  1. Did you ________________ the button?
  2. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  3. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. The ________________ market has crashed.
  6. The ________________ took off on time.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  9. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  10. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  18. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  22. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  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. press — to push
  2. lie — an untruth
  3. press — a publisher
  4. cell — in biology
  5. stock — shares
  6. plane — an aircraft
  7. cell — a phone
  8. bowl — to roll
  9. plane — a tool
  10. bowl — a dish
  11. cold — an illness
  12. cold — not warm
  13. bowl — a football final
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. stock — a soup base
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. stock — goods
  18. lie — an untruth
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. game — wild animals
  21. lie — to recline
  22. plane — in geometry
  23. game — a match
  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