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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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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: stand · hand · arm · snap · press · march · cold · spring

  1. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. I can't ________________ this cold.
  5. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  9. My father caught me by the ________________.
  10. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  11. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  12. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  13. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  14. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  17. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  18. Did you ________________ the button?
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. spring — a coil
  3. hand — help
  4. stand — to bear
  5. press — a publisher
  6. spring — the season
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. snap — to speak sharply
  9. arm — part of the body
  10. arm — part of the body
  11. stand — on your feet
  12. stand — for spectators
  13. march — the month
  14. snap — to snap out of it
  15. march — the month
  16. arm — a part of something
  17. press — newspapers
  18. press — to push
  19. cold — not warm
  20. snap — to click
  21. hand — in cards
  22. cold — an illness
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. march — music

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