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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  3. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. She's very handy with a ________________.
  6. He works in a ________________ mill.
  7. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  8. The King held a masked ________________.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  12. Did you ________________ the button?
  13. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  20. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  21. Have you found your soul ________________?
  22. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  23. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  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. cold — not warm
  2. saw — past of 'see'
  3. ball — a great time
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. saw — the tool
  6. saw — the tool
  7. lean — to bend
  8. ball — a dance
  9. file — a tool
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. press — a publisher
  12. press — to push
  13. press — newspapers
  14. file — a line of people
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. lean — thin
  17. file — a document
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. mate — a friend
  20. lean — to rest against
  21. mate — a partner
  22. mate — to breed
  23. ball — a round shape
  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