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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. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  2. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  3. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. Have you found your soul ________________?
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  11. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  12. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Did you ________________ the button?
  15. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  16. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  17. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  20. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  23. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  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. mate — to breed
  2. deal — to handle
  3. fork — to eat with
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. row — to paddle
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. mate — a partner
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. row — a line
  11. fork — in a road
  12. fork — a garden tool
  13. cold — not warm
  14. press — to push
  15. press — a publisher
  16. deal — an agreement
  17. mate — a friend
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. bark — a dog's sound
  20. deal — a big deal
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. bark — to shout
  23. press — newspapers
  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