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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. There's no middle ________________.
  2. Did you ________________ the button?
  3. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  6. Don't do anything ________________.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  12. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  19. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  20. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  21. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  22. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  23. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  24. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — a position
  2. press — to push
  3. rash — on the skin
  4. cold — an illness
  5. root — of a plant
  6. rash — hasty
  7. ground — crushed
  8. fall — the season
  9. clip — a video
  10. cold — not warm
  11. fall — to drop
  12. drill — a practice
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. clip — to cut
  15. press — newspapers
  16. clip — for paper
  17. ground — the earth
  18. press — a publisher
  19. root — the cause
  20. fall — to drop
  21. rash — a series
  22. root — of a word
  23. drill — army training
  24. drill — the tool

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