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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. Did you ________________ the button?
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  4. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  5. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. The ________________ market has crashed.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  19. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. press — to push
  2. tear — to rip
  3. mouse — the animal
  4. mouse — the animal
  5. press — newspapers
  6. file — a tool
  7. mouse — for a computer
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. stock — shares
  11. wind — moving air
  12. cold — an illness
  13. scale — in music
  14. tear — from crying
  15. file — a document
  16. tear — from crying
  17. file — a line of people
  18. scale — size or range
  19. stock — goods
  20. cold — not warm
  21. stock — a soup base
  22. wind — moving air
  23. press — a publisher
  24. scale — for weighing

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