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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: vault · staff · bat · cold · squash · spring · press · present

  1. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  11. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  12. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  13. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  14. Did you ________________ the button?
  15. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  18. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  19. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  22. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. squash — the sport
  3. present — the time now
  4. cold — an illness
  5. press — a publisher
  6. bat — the animal
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. squash — the vegetable
  9. cold — not warm
  10. staff — a stick
  11. squash — to crush
  12. press — newspapers
  13. vault — an arched ceiling
  14. press — to push
  15. staff — employees
  16. spring — of water
  17. present — a gift
  18. staff — employees
  19. vault — a safe
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. vault — in gymnastics
  22. present — there
  23. spring — a coil
  24. spring — the season

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