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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 120 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: cold · deal · fork · press · fan · kid · mark · bear

  1. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  2. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  3. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  4. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  5. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. Did you ________________ the button?
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  11. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  16. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  17. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  18. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  19. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  20. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  21. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  24. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!

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

Answer key

  1. bear — the animal
  2. deal — a big deal
  3. press — a publisher
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. deal — an agreement
  6. cold — an illness
  7. kid — to tease
  8. press — to push
  9. cold — not warm
  10. deal — to handle
  11. fork — to eat with
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. bear — the animal
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. mark — to pay attention
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. mark — a grade
  18. fork — in a road
  19. mark — a trace
  20. fan — to cool the air
  21. fork — a garden tool
  22. kid — child
  23. press — newspapers
  24. bear — to put up with

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