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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 120 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. That was ________________ to happen.
  2. Did you ________________ the button?
  3. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  17. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  18. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  19. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  23. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  24. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.

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

Answer key

  1. bound — certain
  2. press — to push
  3. calf — a young animal
  4. cold — an illness
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. press — newspapers
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. root — the cause
  9. cold — not warm
  10. tear — from crying
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. tear — to rip
  13. bound — obliged
  14. row — to paddle
  15. tear — from crying
  16. calf — of the leg
  17. root — of a plant
  18. bound — tied together
  19. calf — a young animal
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. row — a line
  23. root — of a word
  24. press — a publisher

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