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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. That must've been a ________________.
  2. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. Did you ________________ the button?
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  9. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  13. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  18. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  19. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — a thrill
  2. press — a publisher
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. press — to push
  5. file — a tool
  6. rush — hurry
  7. file — a line of people
  8. fall — to drop
  9. kick — with a leg
  10. cold — an illness
  11. degree — an amount
  12. rush — to hurry
  13. press — newspapers
  14. cold — not warm
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. degree — temperature
  17. kick — a thrill
  18. kick — in football
  19. fall — the season
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. degree — from a university
  22. mine — for digging
  23. fall — to drop
  24. file — a document

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