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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 116 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. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  2. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  14. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  15. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  16. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  17. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  18. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. Did you ________________ the button?
  23. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  24. What was your ________________ profit last year?

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

Answer key

  1. fall — the season
  2. fall — to drop
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. cold — not warm
  6. fall — to drop
  7. press — newspapers
  8. file — a line of people
  9. cold — an illness
  10. pitch — completely
  11. file — a tool
  12. game — wild animals
  13. press — a publisher
  14. mouse — the animal
  15. pitch — a sports field
  16. mouse — the animal
  17. net — in sport
  18. pitch — a sales talk
  19. game — a match
  20. file — a document
  21. net — for catching
  22. press — to push
  23. mouse — for a computer
  24. net — after costs

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