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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. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  5. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  9. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  10. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  11. Did you ________________ the button?
  12. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. He is an ace ________________.
  15. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  16. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  19. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  20. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — a thrill
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. degree — temperature
  4. press — a publisher
  5. press — newspapers
  6. tear — to rip
  7. cold — an illness
  8. race — humankind
  9. kick — in football
  10. hide — to keep secret
  11. press — to push
  12. hide — to keep secret
  13. tear — from crying
  14. pitcher — in baseball
  15. hide — animal skin
  16. kick — with a leg
  17. degree — an amount
  18. race — the arms race
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. cold — not warm
  22. tear — from crying
  23. race — a contest
  24. degree — from a university

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