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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. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  2. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  5. Did you ________________ the button?
  6. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  12. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  18. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  19. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  20. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  24. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the vegetable
  2. squash — the sport
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. fall — to drop
  5. press — to push
  6. deal — an agreement
  7. court — of a king
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. wake — before a funeral
  10. bat — the animal
  11. deal — to handle
  12. squash — to crush
  13. court — of law
  14. court — for sport
  15. deal — a big deal
  16. cold — an illness
  17. fall — the season
  18. wake — to stop sleeping
  19. fall — to drop
  20. press — newspapers
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. cold — not warm
  23. press — a publisher
  24. wake — a trail

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