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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. My father caught me by the ________________.
  2. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  3. He was locked up in a ________________.
  4. What do you think of the new ________________?
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  9. Did you ________________ the button?
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  16. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  19. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  22. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. cabinet — ministers
  3. cell — in a prison
  4. cabinet — ministers
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. press — a publisher
  7. cold — an illness
  8. press — newspapers
  9. press — to push
  10. spring — of water
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. race — the arms race
  13. wind — moving air
  14. spring — the season
  15. cabinet — a cupboard
  16. arm — a part of something
  17. spring — a coil
  18. arm — part of the body
  19. cell — a phone
  20. race — a contest
  21. wind — moving air
  22. race — humankind
  23. cold — not warm
  24. cell — in biology

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