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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: straw · toast · cold · wind · date · press

  1. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  2. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  6. Have you settled on a ________________?
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  9. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  10. Did you ________________ the button?
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  16. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. press — a publisher
  2. toast — bread
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. date — on the calendar
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. press — newspapers
  9. date — the fruit
  10. press — to push
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. cold — not warm
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. wind — moving air
  15. toast — a drink to someone
  16. toast — the most admired
  17. cold — an illness
  18. wind — moving air

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