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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  4. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  7. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. Did you ________________ the button?
  11. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  15. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  16. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. cold — an illness
  3. press — a publisher
  4. bowl — to roll
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. wake — a trail
  7. press — newspapers
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. clip — a video
  10. press — to push
  11. wake — before a funeral
  12. degree — from a university
  13. clip — to cut
  14. root — of a plant
  15. bowl — a football final
  16. wake — to stop sleeping
  17. degree — temperature
  18. root — the cause
  19. degree — an amount
  20. root — of a word
  21. clip — for paper
  22. wound — an injury
  23. bowl — a dish
  24. wound — an injury

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