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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: race · chest · perch · shower · cell · press

  1. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  2. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. Did you ________________ the button?
  16. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. race — a contest
  2. cell — in biology
  3. chest — of your body
  4. shower — to wash
  5. race — humankind
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. chest — a box
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. chest — of your body
  10. press — a publisher
  11. race — the arms race
  12. shower — rain
  13. press — newspapers
  14. cell — a phone
  15. press — to push
  16. perch — the fish
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. perch — for a bird

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