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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  4. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  7. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. The ________________ went through the wall.
  10. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  22. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. press — to push
  2. hand — help
  3. press — a publisher
  4. nail — on a finger
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. vault — an arched ceiling
  7. vault — in gymnastics
  8. cold — not warm
  9. nail — for a hammer
  10. nail — for a hammer
  11. cold — an illness
  12. chest — of your body
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. chest — a box
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. lean — to rest against
  17. chest — of your body
  18. hand — in cards
  19. press — newspapers
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. lean — to bend
  22. lean — thin
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. vault — a safe

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