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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. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  2. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  3. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  15. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  18. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  19. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. Did you ________________ the button?

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

Answer key

  1. mark — to pay attention
  2. straw — dry grass
  3. root — of a word
  4. tear — from crying
  5. tear — to rip
  6. root — the cause
  7. cold — not warm
  8. cold — an illness
  9. press — newspapers
  10. ground — a position
  11. mark — a trace
  12. tear — from crying
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. ground — the earth
  15. mark — a grade
  16. land — a country
  17. press — a publisher
  18. ground — crushed
  19. root — of a plant
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. land — ground
  23. land — to come down
  24. press — to push

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