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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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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: press · row · shower · cold · bass · mate · foot · field

  1. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  4. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. Did you ________________ the button?
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  14. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  15. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. Have you found your soul ________________?
  22. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  23. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  24. I have a corn on my right ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. press — a publisher
  2. cold — not warm
  3. foot — the bottom
  4. press — newspapers
  5. row — a line
  6. field — a subject
  7. cold — an illness
  8. field — for sport
  9. field — farmland
  10. press — to push
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. shower — to wash
  13. bass — the fish
  14. foot — a measure
  15. mate — a friend
  16. shower — rain
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. row — to paddle
  19. bass — the instrument
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. mate — a partner
  22. mate — to breed
  23. bass — low music
  24. foot — part of the body

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