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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. That was a fun ________________.
  2. Don't do anything ________________.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  6. Did you ________________ the button?
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  12. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  13. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  14. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. It's one o'clock ________________.
  19. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. rash — hasty
  3. spring — of water
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. rash — on the skin
  6. press — to push
  7. spring — the season
  8. spring — a coil
  9. scale — size or range
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. rash — a series
  12. press — newspapers
  13. sharp — clever
  14. scale — for weighing
  15. tear — from crying
  16. tear — from crying
  17. game — wild animals
  18. sharp — exactly
  19. sharp — with an edge
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. scale — in music
  23. tear — to rip
  24. press — a publisher

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