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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. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  2. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  3. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  4. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  7. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  8. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  9. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  12. Did you ________________ the button?
  13. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  14. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. calf — a young animal
  3. stem — to come from
  4. calf — of the leg
  5. cold — an illness
  6. stem — a stem cell
  7. fall — to drop
  8. pound — to hit hard
  9. fall — the season
  10. degree — from a university
  11. pound — for dogs
  12. press — to push
  13. press — a publisher
  14. pound — a weight
  15. file — a tool
  16. degree — temperature
  17. file — a document
  18. stem — of a plant
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. calf — a young animal
  21. cold — not warm
  22. press — newspapers
  23. degree — an amount
  24. file — a line of people

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