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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: fine · tube · press · cold · rest · spell · perch · kid

  1. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  2. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  6. I'll be taking the ________________.
  7. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  8. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  9. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  14. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  15. How do you ________________ your surname?
  16. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  17. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  18. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  21. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Did you ________________ the button?
  24. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.

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

Answer key

  1. fine — a penalty
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. kid — to tease
  4. cold — not warm
  5. rest — a break
  6. tube — the underground
  7. rest — what's left
  8. rest — what's left
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. kid — child
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. perch — the fish
  14. fine — high quality
  15. spell — letters
  16. fine — all right
  17. tube — a container
  18. spell — magic
  19. spell — a short time
  20. press — a publisher
  21. press — newspapers
  22. cold — an illness
  23. press — to push
  24. tube — in a tire

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