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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. I'll be taking the ________________.
  6. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. He works in a ________________ mill.
  11. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. Did you ________________ the button?
  17. She's very handy with a ________________.
  18. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  19. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  23. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  24. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. cold — not warm
  3. wound — an injury
  4. degree — temperature
  5. tube — the underground
  6. branch — a division
  7. wound — an injury
  8. tube — in a tire
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. saw — the tool
  11. press — newspapers
  12. degree — from a university
  13. chest — of your body
  14. chest — of your body
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. press — to push
  17. saw — the tool
  18. press — a publisher
  19. tube — a container
  20. degree — an amount
  21. chest — a box
  22. branch — of a bank
  23. saw — past of 'see'
  24. branch — of a tree

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