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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: prune · drill · game · content · press · wound · cap · field

  1. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  6. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  7. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. Did you ________________ the button?
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  20. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  21. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  24. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. content — the amount
  3. prune — to trim
  4. game — a match
  5. drill — the tool
  6. cap — a hat
  7. cap — a lid
  8. wound — an injury
  9. press — to push
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. press — a publisher
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. wound — an injury
  14. field — farmland
  15. content — happy
  16. field — for sport
  17. game — wild animals
  18. field — a subject
  19. prune — the fruit
  20. cap — of ice
  21. press — newspapers
  22. drill — a practice
  23. drill — army training
  24. prune — to trim

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