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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 120 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. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  2. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  5. That was ________________ to happen.
  6. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  7. Did you ________________ the button?
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. You don't need to ________________ round.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  18. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. We're almost out of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. foot — a measure
  2. chest — a box
  3. chest — of your body
  4. bound — obliged
  5. bound — certain
  6. bound — tied together
  7. press — to push
  8. cold — an illness
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. spring — a coil
  11. press — newspapers
  12. spring — of water
  13. cold — not warm
  14. pop — to visit
  15. chest — of your body
  16. degree — from a university
  17. foot — the bottom
  18. foot — part of the body
  19. degree — temperature
  20. press — a publisher
  21. degree — an amount
  22. pop — music
  23. spring — the season
  24. pop — soda

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