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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: bowl · press · chip · wind · fine · court · leaves · cold

  1. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  2. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  9. The ball is in your ________________.
  10. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  11. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  14. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  15. Did you ________________ the button?
  16. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  17. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  22. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — to roll
  2. fine — high quality
  3. cold — not warm
  4. fine — all right
  5. court — of law
  6. court — of a king
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. chip — for betting
  9. court — for sport
  10. press — newspapers
  11. press — a publisher
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. chip — in a computer
  14. chip — to eat
  15. press — to push
  16. bowl — a football final
  17. leaves — to go away
  18. wind — moving air
  19. bowl — a dish
  20. cold — an illness
  21. fine — a penalty
  22. leaves — of a tree
  23. wind — moving air
  24. leaves — lets stay

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