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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: hand · season · nail · cell · press · swing · fall · wind

  1. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  2. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. David sat on the ________________.
  7. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  8. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  13. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  14. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  15. Did you ________________ the button?
  16. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. Did you ________________ the meat?
  21. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  22. The ________________ went through the wall.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. press — a publisher
  4. hand — help
  5. cell — a phone
  6. swing — to play on
  7. season — of the year
  8. season — in sport
  9. cell — in biology
  10. fall — to drop
  11. wind — moving air
  12. nail — for a hammer
  13. fall — the season
  14. swing — music
  15. press — to push
  16. nail — on a finger
  17. swing — in golf
  18. wind — moving air
  19. hand — in cards
  20. season — to add flavour
  21. press — newspapers
  22. nail — for a hammer
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. hand — part of the 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