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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. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. We're almost out of ________________.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  7. You don't need to ________________ round.
  8. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  9. Did you ________________ the button?
  10. She's very handy with a ________________.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  16. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  17. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. He works in a ________________ mill.
  20. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. current — of water
  3. capital — money
  4. pop — soda
  5. file — a line of people
  6. current — electric
  7. pop — to visit
  8. pop — music
  9. press — to push
  10. saw — the tool
  11. field — a subject
  12. chest — of your body
  13. chest — a box
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. saw — past of 'see'
  16. press — newspapers
  17. current — happening now
  18. file — a document
  19. saw — the tool
  20. press — a publisher
  21. field — for sport
  22. field — farmland
  23. capital — a city
  24. file — a tool

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