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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. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  2. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  3. Did you ________________ the button?
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  7. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  8. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  15. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  20. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  21. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — the tool
  2. fan — to cool the air
  3. press — to push
  4. march — the month
  5. march — the month
  6. drill — a practice
  7. drill — army training
  8. press — a publisher
  9. hand — help
  10. snap — to click
  11. wound — an injury
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. hand — in cards
  14. fan — a supporter
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. wound — an injury
  18. bat — the animal
  19. snap — to snap out of it
  20. press — newspapers
  21. snap — to speak sharply
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. march — music
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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