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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 office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  2. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  3. Did you ________________ the button?
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. It's one o'clock ________________.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  21. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. staff — a stick
  3. press — to push
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. spring — a coil
  6. cold — not warm
  7. sharp — with an edge
  8. race — a contest
  9. press — a publisher
  10. spring — of water
  11. cell — a phone
  12. race — the arms race
  13. press — newspapers
  14. spring — the season
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. wound — an injury
  18. sharp — exactly
  19. wound — an injury
  20. sharp — clever
  21. race — humankind
  22. cold — an illness
  23. staff — employees
  24. cell — in biology

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