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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
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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: cold · game · drill · press · court · face · fork · content

  1. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  2. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  13. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  14. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  15. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  16. Did you ________________ the button?
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  19. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  20. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — a garden tool
  2. face — part of the head
  3. game — a match
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. face — to point toward
  6. court — for sport
  7. court — of a king
  8. press — newspapers
  9. cold — not warm
  10. cold — an illness
  11. content — happy
  12. fork — to eat with
  13. drill — the tool
  14. press — a publisher
  15. fork — in a road
  16. press — to push
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. drill — a practice
  19. drill — army training
  20. face — to confront
  21. game — wild animals
  22. content — the amount
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. court — of law

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