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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. That was ________________ to happen.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  10. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  13. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  18. Did you ________________ the button?
  19. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  20. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  21. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  24. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. cold — an illness
  4. prune — to trim
  5. leaves — lets stay
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. bound — certain
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. bound — tied together
  10. press — newspapers
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. lash — a whip stroke
  13. prune — to trim
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. net — in sport
  16. net — for catching
  17. bound — obliged
  18. press — to push
  19. leaves — of a tree
  20. lash — to lash out
  21. lash — an eyelash
  22. net — after costs
  23. leaves — to go away
  24. press — a publisher

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