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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. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  4. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  7. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  10. I've got to change the light ________________.
  11. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Did you ________________ the button?
  20. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  21. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  22. The light ________________ burned out.
  23. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  24. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.

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

Answer key

  1. last — finally
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. scale — for weighing
  4. wave — with your hand
  5. cold — an illness
  6. scale — in music
  7. wave — of the sea
  8. kid — child
  9. press — a publisher
  10. bulb — for light
  11. scale — size or range
  12. kid — to tease
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. shower — to wash
  15. shower — rain
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. last — to go on
  18. cold — not warm
  19. press — to push
  20. last — final
  21. wave — a sudden rise
  22. bulb — for light
  23. bulb — of a plant
  24. press — newspapers

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