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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: kid · lie · wound · bore · cold · press · cap · mine

  1. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. Did you ________________ the button?
  4. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  5. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  11. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  12. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  13. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.

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

Answer key

  1. press — a publisher
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. press — to push
  4. cap — a lid
  5. bore — to tire
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. bore — gave birth
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. kid — child
  10. cap — of ice
  11. lie — an untruth
  12. cap — a hat
  13. lie — to recline
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. wound — an injury
  16. cold — an illness
  17. press — newspapers
  18. cold — not warm
  19. mine — for digging
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. bore — to drill
  22. kid — to tease
  23. wound — an injury
  24. lie — an untruth

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