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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. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  11. Did you ________________ the button?
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  20. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  21. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  22. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. press — a publisher
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. toast — bread
  5. capital — a city
  6. bowl — to roll
  7. tear — to rip
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. cold — an illness
  10. bowl — a football final
  11. press — to push
  12. capital — money
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. rash — a series
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. cold — not warm
  18. tear — from crying
  19. bowl — a dish
  20. rash — on the skin
  21. toast — the most admired
  22. toast — a drink to someone
  23. tear — from crying
  24. press — newspapers

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