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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 116 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. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  2. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  3. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  4. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  5. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  6. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  11. Did you ________________ the button?
  12. That must've been a ________________.
  13. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  14. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  15. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  16. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  17. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  18. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — to hurry
  2. trunk — of a car
  3. rule — to rule out
  4. patient — calm and waiting
  5. rush — hurry
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. scale — size or range
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. cold — not warm
  10. trunk — of a tree
  11. press — to push
  12. rush — a thrill
  13. rule — a law
  14. press — newspapers
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. trunk — of an elephant
  17. press — a publisher
  18. rule — government
  19. land — to come down
  20. land — ground
  21. scale — in music
  22. land — a country
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. cold — an illness

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