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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: wind · lash · hand · press · cold · pitch · can · race

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  10. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  11. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  12. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  15. Did you ________________ the button?
  16. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  22. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Recycle the empty soda ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. hand — in cards
  3. race — a contest
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. press — a publisher
  6. wind — moving air
  7. cold — not warm
  8. wind — moving air
  9. lash — to lash out
  10. press — newspapers
  11. can — to be able to
  12. lash — a whip stroke
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. pitch — a sports field
  15. press — to push
  16. pitch — completely
  17. race — the arms race
  18. cold — an illness
  19. lash — an eyelash
  20. race — humankind
  21. pitch — a sales talk
  22. can — a tin
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. can — a tin

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