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

  1. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  2. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  4. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. Did you ________________ the button?
  10. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  11. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  14. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  24. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — to hit hard
  2. face — to confront
  3. press — a publisher
  4. pound — a weight
  5. chest — of your body
  6. kid — to tease
  7. last — final
  8. kid — child
  9. press — to push
  10. face — to point toward
  11. last — finally
  12. last — to go on
  13. rock — music
  14. press — newspapers
  15. file — a line of people
  16. chest — a box
  17. chest — of your body
  18. rock — to move gently
  19. file — a tool
  20. file — a document
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. face — part of the head
  23. rock — a stone
  24. pound — for dogs

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