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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. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  7. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  8. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  9. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. Did you ________________ the button?
  12. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  13. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  14. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  15. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  24. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. hide — animal skin
  3. cold — an illness
  4. last — to go on
  5. last — final
  6. hide — to keep secret
  7. face — to confront
  8. face — part of the head
  9. chip — in a computer
  10. wind — moving air
  11. press — to push
  12. press — a publisher
  13. face — to point toward
  14. chip — for betting
  15. rock — to move gently
  16. cold — not warm
  17. wind — moving air
  18. press — newspapers
  19. last — finally
  20. chip — to eat
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. rock — a stone
  24. rock — music

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