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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. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. Did you ________________ the button?
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  8. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  11. The light ________________ burned out.
  12. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  13. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. The ________________ took off on time.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  21. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  22. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  23. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  24. I've got to change the light ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. plane — a tool
  2. row — a line
  3. cold — an illness
  4. cold — not warm
  5. press — to push
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. drill — army training
  8. bulb — of a plant
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. plane — in geometry
  11. bulb — for light
  12. drill — a practice
  13. chair — a professorship
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. row — to paddle
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. plane — an aircraft
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. press — a publisher
  21. drill — the tool
  22. chair — a leader
  23. press — newspapers
  24. bulb — for light

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