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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: file · pound · toast · press · cold · bulb · fall · row

  1. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  4. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. I've got to change the light ________________.
  7. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  8. Did you ________________ the button?
  9. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  10. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  15. The light ________________ burned out.
  16. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  17. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  22. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a tool
  2. row — a line
  3. press — a publisher
  4. pound — for dogs
  5. cold — an illness
  6. bulb — for light
  7. fall — to drop
  8. press — to push
  9. fall — the season
  10. toast — bread
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. file — a document
  14. toast — a drink to someone
  15. bulb — for light
  16. fall — to drop
  17. pound — a weight
  18. file — a line of people
  19. toast — the most admired
  20. row — to paddle
  21. pound — to hit hard
  22. bulb — of a plant
  23. cold — not warm
  24. press — newspapers

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