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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: bat · cabinet · straw · patient · prune · press · kick · fall

  1. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  3. Did you ________________ the button?
  4. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  7. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  8. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  11. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  17. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  18. What do you think of the new ________________?
  19. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  20. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  21. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  22. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  23. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. kick — a thrill
  3. press — to push
  4. fall — to drop
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. cabinet — a cupboard
  7. kick — with a leg
  8. press — newspapers
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. patient — calm and waiting
  11. fall — to drop
  12. fall — the season
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. press — a publisher
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. cabinet — ministers
  19. prune — to trim
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. kick — in football
  22. prune — to trim
  23. cabinet — ministers
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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