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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. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  9. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  10. Don't do anything ________________.
  11. Did you ________________ the button?
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. The ________________ went through the wall.
  20. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  23. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. field — for sport
  4. rash — a series
  5. clip — for paper
  6. fan — to cool the air
  7. march — the month
  8. press — newspapers
  9. press — a publisher
  10. rash — hasty
  11. press — to push
  12. field — a subject
  13. chest — of your body
  14. nail — for a hammer
  15. clip — a video
  16. chest — a box
  17. clip — to cut
  18. march — the month
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. nail — on a finger
  21. field — farmland
  22. fan — a supporter
  23. rash — on the skin
  24. march — music

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