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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. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  2. He works in a ________________ mill.
  3. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  7. She's very handy with a ________________.
  8. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  9. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  10. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  11. Did you ________________ the button?
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  17. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  24. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. saw — the tool
  3. patient — a sick person
  4. prune — to trim
  5. march — the month
  6. press — a publisher
  7. saw — the tool
  8. drill — a practice
  9. drill — the tool
  10. patient — a sick person
  11. press — to push
  12. march — music
  13. prune — to trim
  14. chest — a box
  15. march — the month
  16. prune — the fruit
  17. drill — army training
  18. chest — of your body
  19. patient — calm and waiting
  20. field — farmland
  21. field — for sport
  22. field — a subject
  23. saw — past of 'see'
  24. press — newspapers

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