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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. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  2. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  3. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  4. Did you ________________ the button?
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  9. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  10. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  11. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  12. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  13. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. That must've been a ________________.
  17. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. My father caught me by the ________________.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — the fish
  2. rush — hurry
  3. press — a publisher
  4. press — to push
  5. hand — help
  6. spring — of water
  7. tear — to rip
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. fork — in a road
  10. fork — a garden tool
  11. arm — a part of something
  12. fork — to eat with
  13. arm — part of the body
  14. hand — in cards
  15. tear — from crying
  16. rush — a thrill
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. tear — from crying
  19. arm — part of the body
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. rush — to hurry
  22. spring — the season
  23. spring — a coil
  24. press — newspapers

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