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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: row · press · chair · mark · cold · deal

  1. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  5. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  6. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  7. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  13. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  16. Did you ________________ the button?
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — a big deal
  2. chair — a leader
  3. cold — an illness
  4. deal — an agreement
  5. chair — to sit on
  6. press — newspapers
  7. press — a publisher
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. cold — not warm
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. deal — to handle
  13. mark — a trace
  14. row — to paddle
  15. mark — a grade
  16. press — to push
  17. row — a line
  18. mark — to pay attention

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