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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: cold · press · chest · pit · chip · lean

  1. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  2. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  3. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  4. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  9. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  10. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  11. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  12. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. Did you ________________ the button?
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — thin
  2. pit — a fruit stone
  3. press — a publisher
  4. chip — for betting
  5. chest — of your body
  6. chip — to eat
  7. cold — not warm
  8. lean — to bend
  9. press — newspapers
  10. pit — in a race
  11. chip — in a computer
  12. pit — a hole
  13. chest — of your body
  14. cold — an illness
  15. press — to push
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. chest — a box
  18. lean — to rest against

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