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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. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. We're on a ________________ here.
  5. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  10. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  11. It's one o'clock ________________.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  16. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Did you ________________ the button?
  19. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  23. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. row — to paddle
  2. wind — moving air
  3. cold — an illness
  4. roll — on a roll
  5. rule — to rule out
  6. row — a line
  7. rule — a law
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. roll — a cake
  10. sharp — with an edge
  11. sharp — exactly
  12. file — a line of people
  13. wind — moving air
  14. cold — not warm
  15. sharp — clever
  16. roll — a list
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. press — to push
  19. rule — government
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. file — a document
  22. press — a publisher
  23. press — newspapers
  24. file — a tool

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