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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: date · press · chest · chair · kid · bark

  1. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  5. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  6. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  11. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. Have you settled on a ________________?
  14. Did you ________________ the button?
  15. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  16. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  17. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. kid — child
  3. chair — a leader
  4. press — a publisher
  5. bark — a dog's sound
  6. chair — to sit on
  7. chest — of your body
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. date — the fruit
  12. kid — to tease
  13. date — on the calendar
  14. press — to push
  15. bark — to shout
  16. press — newspapers
  17. bark — of a tree
  18. chest — a box

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