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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: press · safe · branch · land · bat · chest · cold · court

  1. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  8. Did you ________________ the button?
  9. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  10. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  14. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. safe — out of danger
  2. land — to come down
  3. court — of a king
  4. court — for sport
  5. branch — of a bank
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. press — newspapers
  8. press — to push
  9. branch — a division
  10. safe — a strongbox
  11. land — a country
  12. cold — an illness
  13. branch — of a tree
  14. safe — out of danger
  15. court — of law
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. press — a publisher
  18. chest — a box
  19. land — ground
  20. chest — of your body
  21. cold — not warm
  22. chest — of your body
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. bat — the animal

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