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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  4. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  5. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  6. Did you ________________ the button?
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  14. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. That must've been a ________________.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. hand — in cards
  3. cap — a hat
  4. fan — to cool the air
  5. rush — hurry
  6. press — to push
  7. hand — help
  8. cap — of ice
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. rush — to hurry
  12. cold — an illness
  13. press — a publisher
  14. cap — a lid
  15. tear — to rip
  16. press — newspapers
  17. spring — the season
  18. rush — a thrill
  19. tear — from crying
  20. spring — of water
  21. spring — a coil
  22. fan — a supporter
  23. tear — from crying
  24. fan — a supporter

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