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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: bore · cold · rest · band · chair · press

  1. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  7. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  8. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  9. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  10. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  13. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  14. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  15. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  16. Did you ________________ the button?
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. chair — a leader
  3. cold — not warm
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. rest — what's left
  7. bore — to drill
  8. rest — a break
  9. bore — gave birth
  10. bore — to tire
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. rest — what's left
  13. chair — a professorship
  14. press — a publisher
  15. press — newspapers
  16. press — to push
  17. cold — an illness
  18. band — a music group

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