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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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Word bank
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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: shower · press · chest · capital · face · cold

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  8. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  17. Did you ________________ the button?
  18. She had a strange look on her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. cold — an illness
  3. shower — to wash
  4. chest — a box
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. press — newspapers
  8. face — to point toward
  9. chest — of your body
  10. chest — of your body
  11. shower — rain
  12. cold — not warm
  13. face — to confront
  14. capital — money
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. press — a publisher
  17. press — to push
  18. face — part of the head

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