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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: pitch · chest · cell · hand · cold · press

  1. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  2. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  3. He was locked up in a ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  12. Did you ________________ the button?
  13. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — completely
  2. chest — a box
  3. cell — in a prison
  4. cold — an illness
  5. chest — of your body
  6. hand — help
  7. cold — not warm
  8. press — a publisher
  9. chest — of your body
  10. cell — in biology
  11. pitch — a sports field
  12. press — to push
  13. pitch — a sales talk
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. press — newspapers
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. hand — in cards
  18. cell — a phone

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