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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: chest · fall · shower · press · capital · bark

  1. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  5. Did you ________________ the button?
  6. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  16. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — to shout
  2. chest — of your body
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. fall — to drop
  5. press — to push
  6. press — a publisher
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. capital — money
  10. shower — rain
  11. chest — a box
  12. chest — of your body
  13. capital — a city
  14. shower — to wash
  15. fall — to drop
  16. press — newspapers
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. fall — the season

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