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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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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: wind · press · bark · safe · cold · chair

  1. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  2. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  3. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  9. Did you ________________ the button?
  10. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.

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

Answer key

  1. press — a publisher
  2. safe — out of danger
  3. safe — out of danger
  4. chair — a leader
  5. bark — to shout
  6. wind — moving air
  7. wind — moving air
  8. chair — to sit on
  9. press — to push
  10. safe — a strongbox
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. bark — of a tree
  15. cold — not warm
  16. press — newspapers
  17. cold — an illness
  18. bark — a dog's sound

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