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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: press · game · wind · straw · chair · rule

  1. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. Did you ________________ the button?
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  10. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  16. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  17. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. rule — to rule out
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. wind — moving air
  4. press — to push
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. chair — to sit on
  7. wind — moving air
  8. game — wild animals
  9. chair — a leader
  10. rule — a law
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. game — a match
  15. press — newspapers
  16. rule — government
  17. press — a publisher
  18. game — a kind of play

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