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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 · fall · pit · pitcher · cold · wax · wind · bat

  1. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. He is an ace ________________.
  10. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  13. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  16. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  19. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  20. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  21. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  22. Did you ________________ the button?
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — the season
  2. bat — the animal
  3. cold — not warm
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. pit — a fruit stone
  8. cold — an illness
  9. pitcher — in baseball
  10. pit — in a race
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. fall — to drop
  14. wind — moving air
  15. fall — to drop
  16. wax — to grow
  17. wind — moving air
  18. press — newspapers
  19. wax — for sculpting
  20. pit — a hole
  21. press — a publisher
  22. press — to push
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. pitcher — a jug

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