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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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Word bank
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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: cold · press · last · wind · cap · leaves

  1. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  8. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  14. Did you ________________ the button?
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  17. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. leaves — to go away
  2. last — final
  3. cap — a hat
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. cap — of ice
  6. cold — an illness
  7. press — a publisher
  8. leaves — of a tree
  9. wind — moving air
  10. last — to go on
  11. cold — not warm
  12. last — finally
  13. leaves — lets stay
  14. press — to push
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. press — newspapers
  17. cap — a lid
  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