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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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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  5. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  6. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  7. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  8. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  9. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  15. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  16. He is an ace ________________.
  17. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  18. Did you ________________ the button?

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. cold — not warm
  4. scale — size or range
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. scale — in music
  7. scale — for weighing
  8. press — newspapers
  9. bark — a dog's sound
  10. cold — an illness
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. row — to paddle
  13. row — a line
  14. bark — to shout
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. pitcher — in baseball
  17. press — a publisher
  18. 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