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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. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  2. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. Did you ________________ the button?
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  9. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  10. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  13. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  14. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  21. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. press — a publisher
  2. pit — a hole
  3. bat — the animal
  4. press — to push
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. tear — from crying
  7. tear — from crying
  8. press — newspapers
  9. bass — the instrument
  10. race — a contest
  11. tear — to rip
  12. can — to be able to
  13. bass — low music
  14. pit — a fruit stone
  15. cold — not warm
  16. cold — an illness
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. pit — in a race
  19. race — the arms race
  20. can — a tin
  21. can — a tin
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. race — humankind
  24. bass — the fish

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