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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. David sat on the ________________.
  2. Have you settled on a ________________?
  3. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  4. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  5. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  6. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Did you ________________ the button?
  9. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  10. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  11. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  12. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  13. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  14. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  15. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  16. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  17. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  18. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. That must've been a ________________.
  21. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  22. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  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. swing — to play on
  2. date — on the calendar
  3. bowl — a dish
  4. rule — government
  5. lean — to rest against
  6. lean — to bend
  7. cold — not warm
  8. press — to push
  9. bowl — to roll
  10. rush — to hurry
  11. date — the fruit
  12. lean — thin
  13. date — on the calendar
  14. rush — hurry
  15. bowl — a football final
  16. rule — a law
  17. rule — to rule out
  18. swing — in golf
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. rush — a thrill
  21. swing — music
  22. press — a publisher
  23. cold — an illness
  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