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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. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  6. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  7. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  10. Did you ________________ the button?
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  13. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  19. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. row — a line
  3. swing — to play on
  4. row — to paddle
  5. pitch — a sports field
  6. bowl — a dish
  7. press — a publisher
  8. degree — temperature
  9. swing — music
  10. press — to push
  11. degree — an amount
  12. bowl — to roll
  13. swing — in golf
  14. file — a tool
  15. chest — of your body
  16. press — newspapers
  17. degree — from a university
  18. row — a quarrel
  19. pitch — completely
  20. file — a document
  21. bowl — a football final
  22. chest — a box
  23. file — a line of people
  24. pitch — a sales talk

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