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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. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  2. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  12. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  17. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  18. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. Did you ________________ the button?

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

Answer key

  1. deal — an agreement
  2. hide — to keep secret
  3. kid — to tease
  4. court — for sport
  5. cold — not warm
  6. deal — to handle
  7. court — of a king
  8. bark — to shout
  9. hide — animal skin
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. deal — a big deal
  12. chair — a leader
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. chair — to sit on
  15. court — of law
  16. hide — to keep secret
  17. chair — a professorship
  18. press — newspapers
  19. kid — child
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. press — a publisher
  23. cold — an illness
  24. press — to push

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