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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: club · hide · stick · bat · cold · press

  1. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  2. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  3. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  4. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  5. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  11. Did you ________________ the button?
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  14. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  18. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. club — for dancing
  3. stick — to attach or keep to
  4. club — for golf
  5. hide — to keep secret
  6. cold — not warm
  7. cold — an illness
  8. club — a group
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. stick — a piece of wood
  11. press — to push
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. press — a publisher
  14. stick — a piece of wood
  15. bat — the animal
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. hide — animal skin
  18. press — newspapers

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