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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 120 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. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  10. Did you ________________ the button?
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  13. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  14. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  15. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  16. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  17. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  18. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  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. rash — hasty
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. press — a publisher
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. bark — to shout
  6. safe — a strongbox
  7. cold — not warm
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. trunk — of a tree
  10. press — to push
  11. game — a match
  12. rash — on the skin
  13. safe — out of danger
  14. trunk — of an elephant
  15. trunk — of a car
  16. press — newspapers
  17. bark — of a tree
  18. rash — a series
  19. game — wild animals
  20. file — a document
  21. file — a tool
  22. safe — out of danger
  23. file — a line of people
  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