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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. Where did you ________________ them?
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  5. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  6. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  13. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  16. Did you ________________ the button?
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  21. How do you ________________ your surname?
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  24. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. mug — to rob
  3. game — wild animals
  4. press — a publisher
  5. net — after costs
  6. drill — the tool
  7. game — a match
  8. drill — army training
  9. mine — for digging
  10. mug — a cup
  11. chest — a box
  12. net — for catching
  13. net — in sport
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. drill — a practice
  16. press — to push
  17. chest — of your body
  18. spell — magic
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. press — newspapers
  21. spell — letters
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. spell — a short time
  24. mug — a face

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