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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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  11. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  16. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  19. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  20. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  21. Did you ________________ the button?
  22. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  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. snap — to click
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. rule — government
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. kid — child
  6. shower — to wash
  7. chair — a leader
  8. stick — to attach or keep to
  9. last — to go on
  10. stick — a piece of wood
  11. rule — to rule out
  12. last — finally
  13. kid — to tease
  14. shower — rain
  15. snap — to speak sharply
  16. chair — a professorship
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. rule — a law
  19. press — a publisher
  20. last — final
  21. press — to push
  22. stick — a piece of wood
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  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