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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. Did you ________________ the button?
  3. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  6. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  7. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  8. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  9. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  10. It's one o'clock ________________.
  11. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  14. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. The ________________ took off on time.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. press — to push
  3. fall — the season
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. press — newspapers
  6. cue — a hint
  7. sharp — clever
  8. plane — in geometry
  9. plane — a tool
  10. sharp — exactly
  11. fall — to drop
  12. file — a document
  13. press — a publisher
  14. cue — a signal
  15. game — wild animals
  16. cold — an illness
  17. file — a line of people
  18. cue — for pool
  19. game — a match
  20. sharp — with an edge
  21. file — a tool
  22. fall — to drop
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. plane — an aircraft

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