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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. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  2. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. He is an ace ________________.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  12. Did you ________________ the button?
  13. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  16. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  17. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  18. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. press — newspapers
  2. mark — to pay attention
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. pitcher — in baseball
  5. kid — to tease
  6. calf — of the leg
  7. file — a document
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. file — a tool
  10. kid — child
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. press — to push
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. capital — money
  15. mark — a trace
  16. press — a publisher
  17. calf — a young animal
  18. calf — a young animal
  19. cold — an illness
  20. capital — a city
  21. mark — a grade
  22. cold — not warm
  23. file — a line of people
  24. capital — a big letter

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