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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  3. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  4. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  5. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  6. That was ________________ to happen.
  7. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Did you ________________ the button?
  11. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  12. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  13. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  14. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  17. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  18. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  19. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  20. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  21. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  22. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  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. cold — not warm
  2. bound — obliged
  3. firm — steady
  4. wave — of the sea
  5. stem — of a plant
  6. bound — certain
  7. pitch — a sales talk
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. press — to push
  11. bound — tied together
  12. wave — with your hand
  13. firm — decided
  14. pitch — completely
  15. bat — the animal
  16. stem — a stem cell
  17. wave — a sudden rise
  18. press — newspapers
  19. pitch — a sports field
  20. press — a publisher
  21. firm — a company
  22. stem — to come from
  23. bat — for baseball
  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