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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. Did you ________________ the button?
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. He is an ace ________________.
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  10. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  13. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  14. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  15. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Where did you ________________ them?
  18. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  24. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. press — to push
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. chair — a leader
  4. press — a publisher
  5. bat — the animal
  6. pitcher — in baseball
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. cold — an illness
  9. branch — of a bank
  10. firm — a company
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. branch — a division
  13. firm — decided
  14. branch — of a tree
  15. firm — steady
  16. cold — not warm
  17. mug — to rob
  18. mug — a face
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. press — newspapers
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. mug — a cup
  24. chair — a professorship

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