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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  3. Did you ________________ the button?
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  6. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  12. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  13. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  21. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  22. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  23. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. prune — the fruit
  3. press — to push
  4. tear — from crying
  5. press — a publisher
  6. leaves — of a tree
  7. hand — in cards
  8. tear — from crying
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. mine — for digging
  11. press — newspapers
  12. rest — a break
  13. prune — to trim
  14. cold — an illness
  15. tear — to rip
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. cold — not warm
  18. leaves — to go away
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. leaves — lets stay
  21. rest — what's left
  22. rest — what's left
  23. prune — to trim
  24. mine — an explosive

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