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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 120 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: mine · press · branch · stock · last · chair · chest · hand

  1. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. The ________________ market has crashed.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  11. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  18. Did you ________________ the button?
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  21. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  22. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. press — a publisher
  2. chest — of your body
  3. hand — help
  4. chair — a leader
  5. stock — shares
  6. chest — a box
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. branch — a division
  11. branch — of a bank
  12. last — finally
  13. stock — a soup base
  14. last — final
  15. mine — for digging
  16. last — to go on
  17. chair — to sit on
  18. press — to push
  19. chest — of your body
  20. branch — of a tree
  21. press — newspapers
  22. stock — goods
  23. hand — in cards
  24. chair — a professorship

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