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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  3. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  4. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  7. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  8. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  9. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. He is an ace ________________.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  16. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  17. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  18. Did you ________________ the button?
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. press — a publisher
  4. race — the arms race
  5. tear — from crying
  6. kick — with a leg
  7. lean — to rest against
  8. race — humankind
  9. kick — in football
  10. hand — in cards
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. pitcher — in baseball
  13. degree — temperature
  14. tear — from crying
  15. kick — a thrill
  16. press — newspapers
  17. lean — to bend
  18. press — to push
  19. tear — to rip
  20. race — a contest
  21. degree — an amount
  22. lean — thin
  23. degree — from a university
  24. hand — part of the body

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