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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  9. Did you ________________ the button?
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. Don't do anything ________________.
  12. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  13. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  17. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. net — in sport
  4. clip — for paper
  5. rash — a series
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. wind — moving air
  8. press — newspapers
  9. press — to push
  10. clip — a video
  11. rash — hasty
  12. stick — a piece of wood
  13. net — after costs
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. rash — on the skin
  17. stick — a piece of wood
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. stick — to attach or keep to
  20. cold — not warm
  21. press — a publisher
  22. wind — moving air
  23. net — for catching
  24. clip — to cut

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