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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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Did you ________________ the button?
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  8. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. She's very handy with a ________________.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. He works in a ________________ mill.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  16. Have you settled on a ________________?
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  21. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  22. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  23. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. press — to push
  2. chest — of your body
  3. file — a line of people
  4. spring — the season
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. cold — not warm
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. press — a publisher
  9. spring — of water
  10. saw — the tool
  11. spring — a coil
  12. saw — the tool
  13. cold — an illness
  14. chest — a box
  15. safe — out of danger
  16. date — on the calendar
  17. file — a tool
  18. safe — a strongbox
  19. file — a document
  20. saw — past of 'see'
  21. press — newspapers
  22. date — the fruit
  23. safe — out of danger
  24. chest — of your 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