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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. Did you ________________ the button?
  2. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  5. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  8. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  9. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  10. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  11. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  12. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  13. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  16. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  17. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  18. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  19. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  20. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  21. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  22. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  23. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. press — to push
  2. present — a gift
  3. chest — of your body
  4. net — for catching
  5. press — newspapers
  6. net — after costs
  7. face — to point toward
  8. rule — government
  9. rule — to rule out
  10. press — a publisher
  11. face — to confront
  12. fork — in a road
  13. net — in sport
  14. chest — of your body
  15. root — the cause
  16. fork — to eat with
  17. fork — a garden tool
  18. face — part of the head
  19. root — of a plant
  20. rule — a law
  21. root — of a word
  22. present — there
  23. present — the time now
  24. chest — a box

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