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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. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  2. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  3. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  4. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. Did you ________________ the button?
  7. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  8. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  11. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  12. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  13. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  17. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  20. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — to stop sleeping
  2. rule — to rule out
  3. calf — a young animal
  4. pitch — completely
  5. last — final
  6. press — to push
  7. calf — a young animal
  8. press — newspapers
  9. spring — of water
  10. wake — before a funeral
  11. pitch — a sports field
  12. pitch — a sales talk
  13. press — a publisher
  14. cold — not warm
  15. spring — a coil
  16. rule — a law
  17. wake — a trail
  18. spring — the season
  19. calf — of the leg
  20. rule — government
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. last — finally
  23. last — to go on
  24. cold — an illness

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