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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. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  2. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  3. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  7. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  11. I'll be taking the ________________.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  16. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  19. Did you ________________ the button?
  20. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  24. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.

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

Answer key

  1. lash — to lash out
  2. tube — in a tire
  3. row — to paddle
  4. game — a match
  5. bat — the animal
  6. press — a publisher
  7. pass — to spend time
  8. cold — not warm
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. pass — to succeed
  11. tube — the underground
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. cold — an illness
  15. press — newspapers
  16. tube — a container
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. pass — a permit
  19. press — to push
  20. lash — an eyelash
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. game — wild animals
  23. lash — a whip stroke
  24. row — a line

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