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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: game · fan · press · spring · arm · cold · field · bass

  1. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  5. Did you ________________ the button?
  6. My father caught me by the ________________.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  13. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  14. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  15. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  21. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. I play ________________ in a jazz band.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — to cool the air
  2. field — a subject
  3. cold — an illness
  4. press — newspapers
  5. press — to push
  6. arm — part of the body
  7. game — wild animals
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. spring — the season
  10. game — a match
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. press — a publisher
  13. arm — part of the body
  14. fan — a supporter
  15. bass — the fish
  16. cold — not warm
  17. field — for sport
  18. field — farmland
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. bass — low music
  21. arm — a part of something
  22. spring — of water
  23. spring — a coil
  24. bass — the instrument

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