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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: toast · cell · drill · chest · ground · press

  1. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  2. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  12. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. Did you ________________ the button?
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. toast — bread
  2. toast — the most admired
  3. cell — a phone
  4. chest — of your body
  5. ground — crushed
  6. chest — a box
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. press — a publisher
  9. drill — a practice
  10. ground — a position
  11. press — newspapers
  12. toast — a drink to someone
  13. cell — in biology
  14. press — to push
  15. drill — army training
  16. drill — the tool
  17. ground — the earth
  18. chest — of your body

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