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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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  3. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  4. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  5. Did you ________________ the button?
  6. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  7. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  8. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  15. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  16. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  19. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  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. shower — to wash
  2. pit — a hole
  3. wake — before a funeral
  4. pit — in a race
  5. press — to push
  6. vault — in gymnastics
  7. pit — a fruit stone
  8. vault — an arched ceiling
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. vault — a safe
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. file — a tool
  13. shower — rain
  14. can — to be able to
  15. can — a tin
  16. wake — to stop sleeping
  17. cold — not warm
  18. press — newspapers
  19. can — a tin
  20. cold — an illness
  21. file — a document
  22. wake — a trail
  23. file — a line of people
  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