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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 · bat · cold · cue · foot · wound · kick · march

  1. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  2. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  3. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  4. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  7. Did you ________________ the button?
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  10. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  15. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  19. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  20. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. cue — a signal
  3. foot — part of the body
  4. press — newspapers
  5. wound — an injury
  6. kick — a thrill
  7. press — to push
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. foot — a measure
  10. cue — a hint
  11. march — the month
  12. wound — an injury
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. kick — with a leg
  15. cue — for pool
  16. cold — not warm
  17. march — music
  18. press — a publisher
  19. wound — past of 'wind'
  20. foot — the bottom
  21. cold — an illness
  22. kick — in football
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. bat — the animal

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