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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. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. He is an ace ________________.
  3. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  4. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  5. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  14. The King held a masked ________________.
  15. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  16. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  17. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  18. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  19. Did you ________________ the button?
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  23. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  24. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — dry grass
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. ball — a great time
  4. press — a publisher
  5. root — of a word
  6. ground — a position
  7. root — of a plant
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. root — the cause
  10. cold — an illness
  11. dip — to dunk
  12. cold — not warm
  13. dip — a sauce
  14. ball — a dance
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. ball — a round shape
  17. press — newspapers
  18. ground — the earth
  19. press — to push
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. ground — crushed
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. dip — to sink

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