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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. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  4. Did you ________________ the button?
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  11. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  12. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. She's very handy with a ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  20. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. He works in a ________________ mill.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. prune — to trim
  3. saw — past of 'see'
  4. press — to push
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. press — newspapers
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. press — a publisher
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. hide — animal skin
  13. file — a document
  14. cell — a phone
  15. saw — the tool
  16. cold — not warm
  17. cold — an illness
  18. file — a line of people
  19. prune — the fruit
  20. hide — to keep secret
  21. cell — in biology
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. file — a tool
  24. saw — the tool

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