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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. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  9. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  10. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  11. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  14. I can't ________________ this cold.
  15. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  16. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  17. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  18. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  21. Did you ________________ the button?
  22. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  23. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. squash — to crush
  4. cold — an illness
  5. wake — before a funeral
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. cold — not warm
  8. wake — a trail
  9. press — newspapers
  10. squash — the sport
  11. face — to point toward
  12. game — a match
  13. face — part of the head
  14. stand — to bear
  15. wake — to stop sleeping
  16. face — to confront
  17. stand — on your feet
  18. stand — for spectators
  19. row — to paddle
  20. squash — the vegetable
  21. press — to push
  22. press — a publisher
  23. row — a line
  24. game — wild animals

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