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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. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  4. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  5. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Did you ________________ the button?
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. David sat on the ________________.
  15. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  16. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  17. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  18. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  19. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — music
  2. spring — a coil
  3. trunk — of a tree
  4. press — a publisher
  5. present — there
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. chest — of your body
  9. chest — of your body
  10. wind — moving air
  11. cold — not warm
  12. press — to push
  13. chest — a box
  14. swing — to play on
  15. trunk — of an elephant
  16. trunk — of a car
  17. present — a gift
  18. press — newspapers
  19. swing — in golf
  20. wind — moving air
  21. spring — the season
  22. cold — an illness
  23. present — the time now
  24. spring — of water

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