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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 116 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: kick · cold · vault · sharp · fan · press · wind · row

  1. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  3. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  4. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  5. It's one o'clock ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  8. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  9. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  10. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. Did you ________________ the button?
  13. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  14. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  17. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. He's quite ________________, isn't he?

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

Answer key

  1. row — a line
  2. kick — a thrill
  3. vault — a safe
  4. vault — an arched ceiling
  5. sharp — exactly
  6. cold — not warm
  7. sharp — with an edge
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. press — a publisher
  10. kick — with a leg
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. press — to push
  13. fan — a supporter
  14. press — newspapers
  15. row — to paddle
  16. row — a quarrel
  17. fan — to cool the air
  18. wind — moving air
  19. kick — in football
  20. wind — moving air
  21. cold — an illness
  22. vault — in gymnastics
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. sharp — clever

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