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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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  4. Did you ________________ the button?
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  8. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  9. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. He works in a ________________ mill.
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  15. Have you met the new head ________________?
  16. She's very handy with a ________________.
  17. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  18. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  19. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  23. It's one o'clock ________________.
  24. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. press — to push
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. last — finally
  7. sharp — clever
  8. press — newspapers
  9. sharp — with an edge
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. cold — an illness
  12. saw — the tool
  13. band — a music group
  14. saw — past of 'see'
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. saw — the tool
  17. press — a publisher
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. coach — pulled by horses
  20. last — to go on
  21. cold — not warm
  22. band — a rubber band
  23. sharp — exactly
  24. band — a ring

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