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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. Did you ________________ the button?
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  8. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  9. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  10. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. The ball is in your ________________.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  15. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  18. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  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. court — of a king
  3. pound — a weight
  4. spring — of water
  5. jam — to spread on bread
  6. court — of law
  7. jam — in traffic
  8. press — newspapers
  9. pound — for dogs
  10. fall — to drop
  11. kid — to tease
  12. court — for sport
  13. chest — of your body
  14. fall — the season
  15. fall — to drop
  16. spring — a coil
  17. press — a publisher
  18. jam — a tight spot
  19. spring — the season
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. pound — to hit hard
  22. chest — of your body
  23. kid — child
  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