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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.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  2. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  3. My father caught me by the ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  6. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  11. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Did you ________________ the button?
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. The players ran onto the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — a meteor shower
  2. arm — a part of something
  3. arm — part of the body
  4. cold — not warm
  5. press — newspapers
  6. pitch — a sales talk
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. pitch — completely
  9. bat — the animal
  10. press — a publisher
  11. arm — part of the body
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. press — to push
  15. shower — to wash
  16. cold — an illness
  17. shower — rain
  18. pitch — a sports field

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