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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. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  2. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  3. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  4. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  5. Did you ________________ the button?
  6. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  7. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  16. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  17. That must've been a ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  20. The ________________ market has crashed.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  24. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.

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

Answer key

  1. press — a publisher
  2. rush — hurry
  3. fork — to eat with
  4. stock — goods
  5. press — to push
  6. fork — a garden tool
  7. wave — with your hand
  8. clip — for paper
  9. cue — a signal
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. cue — a hint
  12. clip — a video
  13. rush — to hurry
  14. clip — to cut
  15. wave — a sudden rise
  16. fork — in a road
  17. rush — a thrill
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. cue — for pool
  20. stock — shares
  21. cold — an illness
  22. cold — not warm
  23. wave — of the sea
  24. press — newspapers

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