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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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  6. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  12. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  15. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  16. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  17. Did you ________________ the button?
  18. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  19. How do you ________________ your surname?
  20. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. chest — of your body
  3. content — the amount
  4. spring — of water
  5. mouse — for a computer
  6. press — a publisher
  7. chest — a box
  8. spring — the season
  9. spring — a coil
  10. content — happy
  11. mouse — the animal
  12. scale — for weighing
  13. last — finally
  14. mouse — the animal
  15. spell — a short time
  16. press — newspapers
  17. press — to push
  18. scale — in music
  19. spell — letters
  20. scale — size or range
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. spell — magic
  23. last — to go on
  24. chest — of your body

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