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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. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  2. Did you ________________ the button?
  3. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  4. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  9. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. She's very handy with a ________________.
  12. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  15. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. How do you ________________ your surname?
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. He works in a ________________ mill.
  22. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  23. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  24. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. press — to push
  3. root — of a plant
  4. root — of a word
  5. file — a document
  6. pound — to hit hard
  7. chest — of your body
  8. spell — a short time
  9. spell — magic
  10. file — a tool
  11. saw — the tool
  12. root — the cause
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. pound — for dogs
  15. press — newspapers
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. spell — letters
  18. file — a line of people
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. chest — a box
  21. saw — the tool
  22. pound — a weight
  23. saw — past of 'see'
  24. press — a publisher

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