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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: cold · press · row · hand · squash · stick · band · scale

  1. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  2. Did you ________________ the button?
  3. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  4. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  9. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  13. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  14. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  19. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  20. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. stick — a piece of wood
  2. press — to push
  3. row — to paddle
  4. scale — size or range
  5. hand — help
  6. scale — for weighing
  7. cold — an illness
  8. scale — in music
  9. stick — a piece of wood
  10. hand — in cards
  11. band — a music group
  12. press — a publisher
  13. squash — to crush
  14. stick — to attach or keep to
  15. cold — not warm
  16. squash — the vegetable
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. squash — the sport
  19. band — a ring
  20. row — a line
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. press — newspapers
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. row — a quarrel

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