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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. Did you ________________ the button?
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. Have you settled on a ________________?
  4. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  5. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  13. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  14. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  15. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  19. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  20. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  21. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. press — to push
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. date — the fruit
  6. cold — an illness
  7. content — happy
  8. prune — to trim
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. rest — what's left
  11. content — the amount
  12. rest — a break
  13. branch — a division
  14. branch — of a tree
  15. press — newspapers
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. branch — of a bank
  19. prune — to trim
  20. press — a publisher
  21. rest — what's left
  22. cold — not warm
  23. wind — moving air
  24. wind — moving air

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