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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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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 · game · net · field · court · face · press · pop

  1. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. Did you ________________ the button?
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. We're almost out of ________________.
  13. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. You don't need to ________________ round.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  24. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. net — after costs
  3. net — for catching
  4. field — for sport
  5. face — to point toward
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. press — to push
  8. game — a match
  9. game — wild animals
  10. net — in sport
  11. field — a subject
  12. pop — soda
  13. face — to confront
  14. court — for sport
  15. chest — of your body
  16. pop — to visit
  17. court — of a king
  18. chest — a box
  19. pop — music
  20. court — of law
  21. face — part of the head
  22. field — farmland
  23. press — a publisher
  24. press — newspapers

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