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

  1. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  2. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  3. What do you think of the new ________________?
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  9. Did you ________________ the button?
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  14. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  15. The ________________ took off on time.
  16. The King held a masked ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  19. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  24. The kitten curled into a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a great time
  2. press — a publisher
  3. cabinet — ministers
  4. file — a tool
  5. cold — not warm
  6. press — newspapers
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. cabinet — a cupboard
  9. press — to push
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. bat — the animal
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. drill — a practice
  14. plane — a tool
  15. plane — an aircraft
  16. ball — a dance
  17. cold — an illness
  18. plane — in geometry
  19. cabinet — ministers
  20. file — a line of people
  21. drill — the tool
  22. file — a document
  23. drill — army training
  24. ball — a round shape

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