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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 120 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: shower · press · cold · temple · rule · bat

  1. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Did you ________________ the button?
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  10. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  11. When was this ________________ built?
  12. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  13. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  14. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. cold — not warm
  3. shower — rain
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. press — to push
  6. bat — the animal
  7. rule — to rule out
  8. shower — to wash
  9. temple — a place of worship
  10. temple — side of the head
  11. temple — a place of worship
  12. rule — a law
  13. press — newspapers
  14. rule — government
  15. cold — an illness
  16. press — a publisher
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. shower — a meteor shower

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