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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. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  8. Don't do anything ________________.
  9. Did you ________________ the button?
  10. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  11. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  14. It's one o'clock ________________.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  18. False peace will not ________________.
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  21. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  22. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rule — government
  2. last — final
  3. court — for sport
  4. wind — moving air
  5. last — finally
  6. wind — moving air
  7. rule — a law
  8. rash — hasty
  9. press — to push
  10. rash — on the skin
  11. rule — to rule out
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. rash — a series
  14. sharp — exactly
  15. shower — to wash
  16. court — of a king
  17. press — a publisher
  18. last — to go on
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. sharp — with an edge
  21. sharp — clever
  22. press — newspapers
  23. court — of law
  24. shower — rain

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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