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

Word bank: stick · chest · press · clip · lean · cold

  1. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  2. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  3. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  4. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  7. Did you ________________ the button?
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. press — a publisher
  2. stick — to attach or keep to
  3. lean — to rest against
  4. stick — a piece of wood
  5. chest — of your body
  6. lean — to bend
  7. press — to push
  8. clip — a video
  9. cold — an illness
  10. cold — not warm
  11. press — newspapers
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. lean — thin
  14. clip — to cut
  15. chest — a box
  16. chest — of your body
  17. clip — for paper
  18. stick — a piece of wood

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