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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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  3. Did you ________________ the button?
  4. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  8. I'll be taking the ________________.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  15. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  16. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  21. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. rest — what's left
  3. press — to push
  4. snap — to speak sharply
  5. cold — not warm
  6. cold — an illness
  7. tube — a container
  8. tube — the underground
  9. tear — from crying
  10. press — a publisher
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. tube — in a tire
  13. tear — to rip
  14. squash — the sport
  15. rest — a break
  16. rest — what's left
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. squash — the vegetable
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. press — newspapers
  21. snap — to snap out of it
  22. tear — from crying
  23. squash — to crush
  24. straw — a straw man

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