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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  4. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  7. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. Did you ________________ the button?
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  16. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  17. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. Have you settled on a ________________?
  20. What do you think of the new ________________?
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. chair — to sit on
  4. cabinet — ministers
  5. chest — of your body
  6. bark — of a tree
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. chair — a leader
  9. press — to push
  10. kid — child
  11. bark — to shout
  12. field — a subject
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. cabinet — a cupboard
  16. press — newspapers
  17. date — the fruit
  18. field — farmland
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. cabinet — ministers
  21. chest — a box
  22. press — a publisher
  23. field — for sport
  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