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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 116 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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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: race · press · march · rash · kid · squash · cell · court

  1. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  2. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. Don't do anything ________________.
  5. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  20. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. Did you ________________ the button?

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

Answer key

  1. press — a publisher
  2. rash — on the skin
  3. cell — a phone
  4. rash — hasty
  5. race — the arms race
  6. march — music
  7. race — humankind
  8. cell — in biology
  9. squash — to crush
  10. march — the month
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. court — of law
  13. kid — to tease
  14. march — the month
  15. rash — a series
  16. kid — child
  17. race — a contest
  18. court — of a king
  19. squash — the sport
  20. press — newspapers
  21. court — for sport
  22. squash — the vegetable
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. press — to push

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