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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. False peace will not ________________.
  2. Did you ________________ the button?
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  5. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  6. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  7. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  12. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  15. The King held a masked ________________.
  16. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. The kitten curled into a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. press — to push
  3. kid — child
  4. cue — for pool
  5. net — in sport
  6. press — a publisher
  7. cue — a signal
  8. cold — not warm
  9. ball — a great time
  10. degree — from a university
  11. net — for catching
  12. net — after costs
  13. cold — an illness
  14. press — newspapers
  15. ball — a dance
  16. cue — a hint
  17. kid — to tease
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. last — final
  21. degree — temperature
  22. degree — an amount
  23. last — finally
  24. ball — a round shape

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