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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. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  9. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  10. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  11. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  12. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  13. Did you ________________ the button?
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  17. She's very handy with a ________________.
  18. He works in a ________________ mill.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  24. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — to hit hard
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. swing — to play on
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. mine — for digging
  6. wake — a trail
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. wake — to stop sleeping
  9. swing — music
  10. press — newspapers
  11. pound — a weight
  12. press — a publisher
  13. press — to push
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. cold — an illness
  16. wake — before a funeral
  17. saw — the tool
  18. saw — the tool
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. pound — for dogs
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. cold — not warm
  23. swing — in golf
  24. saw — past of 'see'

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