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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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 · cold · object · spell · shower · tear · present · ground

  1. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  11. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  14. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  15. How do you ________________ your surname?
  16. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  17. There's no middle ________________.
  18. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  19. Did you ________________ the button?
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  22. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  23. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — to rip
  2. cold — not warm
  3. spell — magic
  4. present — there
  5. tear — from crying
  6. shower — to wash
  7. cold — an illness
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. ground — the earth
  10. press — newspapers
  11. present — a gift
  12. tear — from crying
  13. press — a publisher
  14. spell — a short time
  15. spell — letters
  16. object — to protest
  17. ground — a position
  18. ground — crushed
  19. press — to push
  20. shower — rain
  21. object — an aim
  22. present — the time now
  23. object — a thing
  24. cold — the Cold War

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