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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 120 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. Have you met the new head ________________?
  2. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. Did you ________________ the button?

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

Answer key

  1. coach — a trainer
  2. drill — a practice
  3. wound — an injury
  4. drill — army training
  5. prune — to trim
  6. press — a publisher
  7. cell — a phone
  8. wound — an injury
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. cold — not warm
  11. chest — of your body
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. press — newspapers
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. chest — a box
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. drill — the tool
  18. chest — of your body
  19. coach — pulled by horses
  20. cell — in biology
  21. prune — to trim
  22. cold — an illness
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. press — to push

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