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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. Did you ________________ the button?
  2. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. My mare is ________________ in color.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. I'll be taking the ________________.
  7. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  8. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  19. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  20. David sat on the ________________.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. press — to push
  2. tube — in a tire
  3. row — a line
  4. bay — a horse colour
  5. cold — not warm
  6. tube — the underground
  7. press — a publisher
  8. tube — a container
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. bay — to keep at bay
  11. shower — to wash
  12. bay — a part of the sea
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. press — newspapers
  16. cold — an illness
  17. shower — rain
  18. swing — music
  19. cell — a phone
  20. swing — to play on
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. row — to paddle
  23. swing — in golf
  24. cell — in biology

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