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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. The King held a masked ________________.
  2. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  6. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  13. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  14. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  15. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  16. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  21. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  22. Did you ________________ the button?
  23. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  24. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a dance
  2. file — a document
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. cold — not warm
  5. branch — of a tree
  6. stick — a piece of wood
  7. tear — from crying
  8. cold — an illness
  9. tear — from crying
  10. branch — a division
  11. net — in sport
  12. press — a publisher
  13. net — for catching
  14. stick — a piece of wood
  15. stick — to attach or keep to
  16. ball — a great time
  17. file — a tool
  18. net — after costs
  19. file — a line of people
  20. ball — a round shape
  21. press — newspapers
  22. press — to push
  23. branch — of a bank
  24. tear — to rip

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