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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: file · snap · cold · prune · plane · stock · mark · press

  1. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  2. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  3. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  4. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  7. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  8. Did you ________________ the button?
  9. The ________________ market has crashed.
  10. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  13. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  21. The ________________ took off on time.
  22. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  23. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  24. A ________________ is just a dried plum.

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

Answer key

  1. press — a publisher
  2. stock — a soup base
  3. mark — a trace
  4. mark — to pay attention
  5. file — a tool
  6. snap — to speak sharply
  7. prune — to trim
  8. press — to push
  9. stock — shares
  10. snap — to snap out of it
  11. file — a line of people
  12. snap — to click
  13. mark — a grade
  14. cold — an illness
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. prune — to trim
  17. cold — not warm
  18. press — newspapers
  19. file — a document
  20. plane — a tool
  21. plane — an aircraft
  22. stock — goods
  23. plane — in geometry
  24. prune — the fruit

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