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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 120 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. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  8. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  9. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  14. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. Have you found your soul ________________?
  19. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  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. press — to push
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. hand — help
  4. wind — moving air
  5. fine — high quality
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. press — a publisher
  8. stem — of a plant
  9. mate — to breed
  10. file — a document
  11. bat — the animal
  12. file — a tool
  13. mate — a friend
  14. fine — a penalty
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. stem — a stem cell
  17. wind — moving air
  18. mate — a partner
  19. stem — to come from
  20. hand — in cards
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. file — a line of people
  23. fine — all right
  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