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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. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. Have you met the new head ________________?
  4. Did you ________________ the button?
  5. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  6. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  7. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  14. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  15. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  22. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  23. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  24. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. degree — from a university
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. press — to push
  5. coach — pulled by horses
  6. press — a publisher
  7. wake — a trail
  8. degree — temperature
  9. wake — to stop sleeping
  10. band — a ring
  11. fall — to drop
  12. band — a music group
  13. fall — the season
  14. chair — a leader
  15. chair — to sit on
  16. bat — the animal
  17. degree — an amount
  18. chair — a professorship
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. press — newspapers
  22. band — a rubber band
  23. wake — before a funeral
  24. coach — a trainer

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