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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. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  8. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. Did you ________________ the button?
  17. The ________________ went through the wall.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.

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

Answer key

  1. press — newspapers
  2. game — a match
  3. nail — for a hammer
  4. cold — an illness
  5. wound — an injury
  6. game — wild animals
  7. rule — a law
  8. rule — government
  9. cold — not warm
  10. wind — moving air
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. wind — moving air
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. wound — an injury
  16. press — to push
  17. nail — for a hammer
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. nail — on a finger
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. rule — to rule out
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. press — a publisher

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