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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. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  2. Did you ________________ the button?
  3. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  8. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  9. David sat on the ________________.
  10. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  11. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  12. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  18. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  19. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  20. The ________________ market has crashed.
  21. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  22. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  23. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  24. I've got the luggage in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — part of the body
  2. press — to push
  3. swing — music
  4. cold — not warm
  5. hand — help
  6. cold — an illness
  7. face — part of the head
  8. press — newspapers
  9. swing — to play on
  10. trunk — of a tree
  11. stock — goods
  12. swing — in golf
  13. row — to paddle
  14. row — a line
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. hand — in cards
  17. row — a quarrel
  18. press — a publisher
  19. face — to confront
  20. stock — shares
  21. stock — a soup base
  22. trunk — of an elephant
  23. face — to point toward
  24. trunk — of a car

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