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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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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: rock · ground · rest · chip · content · season · cold · press

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  3. Did you ________________ the meat?
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. There's no middle ________________.
  8. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  11. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  12. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  13. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  14. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  18. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  19. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  20. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  21. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  22. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  23. Did you ________________ the button?
  24. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. rock — music
  3. season — to add flavour
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. press — newspapers
  6. cold — an illness
  7. ground — a position
  8. rock — a stone
  9. content — the amount
  10. rest — what's left
  11. rest — a break
  12. rest — what's left
  13. chip — to eat
  14. ground — the earth
  15. cold — not warm
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. season — in sport
  18. chip — for betting
  19. ground — crushed
  20. rock — to move gently
  21. season — of the year
  22. chip — in a computer
  23. press — to push
  24. press — a publisher

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