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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. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  7. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. When will it ________________ you to start?
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  15. Did you ________________ the button?
  16. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. The spa offers ________________ extensions.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. capital — money
  3. press — a publisher
  4. kid — child
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. lash — a whip stroke
  7. lash — to lash out
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. capital — a city
  11. suit — to fit
  12. chest — of your body
  13. chest — a box
  14. suit — in cards
  15. press — to push
  16. suit — clothes
  17. cell — a phone
  18. kid — to tease
  19. cold — not warm
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. cold — an illness
  22. press — newspapers
  23. cell — in biology
  24. lash — an eyelash

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