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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.

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: kick · tube · cold · mine · press · chip · field · pitcher

  1. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  6. I'll be taking the ________________.
  7. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  8. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  9. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  10. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  15. Did you ________________ the button?
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  19. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. He is an ace ________________.
  22. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. tube — a container
  4. cold — an illness
  5. press — newspapers
  6. tube — the underground
  7. kick — a thrill
  8. press — a publisher
  9. chip — to eat
  10. kick — in football
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. tube — in a tire
  13. cold — not warm
  14. chip — for betting
  15. press — to push
  16. field — for sport
  17. mine — for digging
  18. chip — in a computer
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. field — a subject
  21. pitcher — in baseball
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. kick — with a leg

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