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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. False peace will not ________________.
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  7. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  8. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  11. Did you ________________ the button?
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  17. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  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. last — to go on
  3. file — a tool
  4. bank — for money
  5. file — a line of people
  6. bank — of a river
  7. vault — in gymnastics
  8. bank — for money
  9. wound — an injury
  10. last — final
  11. press — to push
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. wind — moving air
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. file — a document
  16. last — finally
  17. vault — an arched ceiling
  18. cold — an illness
  19. wind — moving air
  20. wound — an injury
  21. cold — not warm
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. vault — a safe
  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