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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.

Make a worksheet

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: pitcher · field · sharp · mine · race · content · fork · press

  1. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  11. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  12. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  13. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  14. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  15. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. Did you ________________ the button?
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. He is an ace ________________.
  24. It's one o'clock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. field — for sport
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. field — a subject
  5. race — humankind
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. press — a publisher
  9. race — a contest
  10. press — newspapers
  11. fork — a garden tool
  12. sharp — clever
  13. fork — to eat with
  14. fork — in a road
  15. sharp — with an edge
  16. content — happy
  17. content — the amount
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. press — to push
  20. field — farmland
  21. race — the arms race
  22. mine — for digging
  23. pitcher — in baseball
  24. sharp — exactly

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