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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.

Make a worksheet

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: nail · game · march · scale · fall · press · chair · cold

  1. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. Did you ________________ the button?
  3. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  6. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. The ________________ went through the wall.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  18. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  19. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  20. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  23. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. press — to push
  3. fall — to drop
  4. march — the month
  5. press — a publisher
  6. nail — on a finger
  7. cold — an illness
  8. press — newspapers
  9. cold — not warm
  10. march — the month
  11. nail — for a hammer
  12. march — music
  13. scale — for weighing
  14. scale — in music
  15. game — wild animals
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. scale — size or range
  18. chair — a professorship
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. chair — a leader
  21. game — a match
  22. fall — to drop
  23. fall — the season
  24. game — a kind of play

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