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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. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  2. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  11. Did you ________________ the button?
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  19. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  20. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  21. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  22. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — low music
  2. press — newspapers
  3. chest — of your body
  4. chest — of your body
  5. fall — the season
  6. cold — not warm
  7. bass — the fish
  8. hand — help
  9. chest — a box
  10. fall — to drop
  11. press — to push
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. hand — in cards
  14. fall — to drop
  15. row — a line
  16. press — a publisher
  17. row — to paddle
  18. row — a quarrel
  19. bore — gave birth
  20. bore — to tire
  21. bass — the instrument
  22. bore — to drill
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. cold — an illness

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