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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. Did you ________________ the button?
  6. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  12. The ________________ went through the wall.
  13. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  14. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. He is as ________________ as a wolf.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. chest — of your body
  3. chest — a box
  4. prune — to trim
  5. press — to push
  6. lean — to bend
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. capital — a city
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. lean — to rest against
  12. nail — for a hammer
  13. press — newspapers
  14. press — a publisher
  15. kid — child
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. nail — on a finger
  18. prune — to trim
  19. capital — money
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. nail — for a hammer
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. chest — of your body
  24. lean — thin

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