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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  3. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  4. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  16. He is an ace ________________.
  17. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  18. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. Did you ________________ the button?
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  24. That must've been a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. press — a publisher
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. pound — to hit hard
  5. chest — of your body
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. land — to come down
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. press — newspapers
  10. hand — in cards
  11. chest — of your body
  12. wind — moving air
  13. land — a country
  14. land — ground
  15. pound — for dogs
  16. pitcher — in baseball
  17. rush — to hurry
  18. rush — hurry
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. press — to push
  21. wind — moving air
  22. chest — a box
  23. pound — a weight
  24. rush — a thrill

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