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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. Did you ________________ the button?
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  7. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  8. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  9. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. The King held a masked ________________.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  19. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  20. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  21. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  22. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  23. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. press — to push
  2. tear — from crying
  3. object — a thing
  4. file — a tool
  5. tear — from crying
  6. squash — the sport
  7. squash — the vegetable
  8. chair — to sit on
  9. object — to protest
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. ball — a dance
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. tear — to rip
  16. press — a publisher
  17. file — a document
  18. object — an aim
  19. chair — a leader
  20. squash — to crush
  21. ball — a great time
  22. ball — a round shape
  23. press — newspapers
  24. file — a line of people

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