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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: press · bat · mate · rule · wind · cold · lash · last

  1. Have you found your soul ________________?
  2. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Did you ________________ the button?
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  11. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  12. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  16. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  17. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  18. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  21. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  22. False peace will not ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a partner
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. last — finally
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. press — a publisher
  7. cold — not warm
  8. press — to push
  9. bat — the animal
  10. mate — a friend
  11. press — newspapers
  12. lash — to lash out
  13. wind — moving air
  14. wind — moving air
  15. rule — government
  16. lash — an eyelash
  17. mate — to breed
  18. rule — to rule out
  19. cold — an illness
  20. last — final
  21. rule — a law
  22. last — to go on
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. lash — a whip stroke

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