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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. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  11. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  12. The ________________ market has crashed.
  13. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  14. Did you ________________ the button?
  15. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  18. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. band — a ring
  3. chest — of your body
  4. march — the month
  5. snap — to snap out of it
  6. land — to come down
  7. snap — to click
  8. lie — an untruth
  9. chest — of your body
  10. stock — goods
  11. press — a publisher
  12. stock — shares
  13. stock — a soup base
  14. press — to push
  15. snap — to speak sharply
  16. march — music
  17. lie — an untruth
  18. band — a music group
  19. march — the month
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. lie — to recline
  22. chest — a box
  23. land — ground
  24. press — newspapers

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