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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 120 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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. Did you ________________ the button?
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  8. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  9. Did you ________________ the meat?
  10. My father caught me by the ________________.
  11. I'll be taking the ________________.
  12. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  21. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  22. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. last — finally
  3. press — to push
  4. bat — the animal
  5. press — a publisher
  6. last — to go on
  7. season — in sport
  8. tube — a container
  9. season — to add flavour
  10. arm — part of the body
  11. tube — the underground
  12. season — of the year
  13. chest — a box
  14. chest — of your body
  15. cold — not warm
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. last — final
  18. chest — of your body
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. arm — part of the body
  21. arm — a part of something
  22. press — newspapers
  23. cold — an illness
  24. tube — in a tire

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