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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: lean · chest · cold · press · drill · bear · rule · straw

  1. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  2. Did you ________________ the button?
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  8. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  12. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  13. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  14. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  15. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  16. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  17. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  18. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  19. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  23. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to bend
  2. press — to push
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. cold — an illness
  5. chest — a box
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. drill — the tool
  8. rule — to rule out
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. chest — of your body
  11. rule — a law
  12. press — a publisher
  13. drill — a practice
  14. bear — the animal
  15. lean — to rest against
  16. bear — the animal
  17. lean — thin
  18. drill — army training
  19. press — newspapers
  20. cold — not warm
  21. chest — of your body
  22. bear — to put up with
  23. rule — government
  24. straw — a straw man

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