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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. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  2. Did you ________________ the button?
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  5. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  6. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  7. That was ________________ to happen.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  11. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  12. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  13. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  16. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  21. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  22. Have you met the new head ________________?
  23. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. press — a publisher
  2. press — to push
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. lash — a whip stroke
  5. branch — a division
  6. branch — of a bank
  7. bound — certain
  8. court — of a king
  9. cold — not warm
  10. press — newspapers
  11. row — to paddle
  12. coach — pulled by horses
  13. bound — obliged
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. lash — an eyelash
  16. bound — tied together
  17. court — for sport
  18. lash — to lash out
  19. court — of law
  20. branch — of a tree
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. row — a line
  24. cold — an illness

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