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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: spell · press · chest · chair · clip · pound

  1. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. Did you ________________ the button?
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  13. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  17. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  18. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. clip — for paper
  4. press — to push
  5. chair — a leader
  6. spell — letters
  7. chest — of your body
  8. press — a publisher
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. spell — a short time
  11. chest — of your body
  12. pound — a weight
  13. press — newspapers
  14. clip — a video
  15. chest — a box
  16. pound — to hit hard
  17. pound — for dogs
  18. spell — magic

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