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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. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  2. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. Did you ________________ the button?
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  11. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  12. He is an ace ________________.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  15. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  16. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  22. The ________________ went through the wall.
  23. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. chest — a box
  4. nail — for a hammer
  5. spring — of water
  6. press — to push
  7. chest — of your body
  8. nail — on a finger
  9. spring — the season
  10. press — a publisher
  11. staff — a stick
  12. pitcher — in baseball
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. wave — of the sea
  16. press — newspapers
  17. chest — of your body
  18. wind — moving air
  19. wave — with your hand
  20. wind — moving air
  21. wave — a sudden rise
  22. nail — for a hammer
  23. staff — employees
  24. spring — a coil

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