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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. When was this ________________ built?
  2. Did you ________________ the button?
  3. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  6. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  7. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  10. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  11. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  12. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  13. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. Let us try to swim against the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. press — to push
  3. staff — employees
  4. cold — an illness
  5. current — happening now
  6. press — a publisher
  7. current — electric
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. staff — employees
  10. staff — a stick
  11. temple — a place of worship
  12. press — newspapers
  13. club — a group
  14. cold — not warm
  15. temple — side of the head
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. club — for golf
  18. clip — for paper
  19. club — for dancing
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. clip — a video
  23. clip — to cut
  24. current — of water

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