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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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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 · wind · hand · mate · net · kid · cell · chair

  1. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. Have you found your soul ________________?
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  10. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. Did you ________________ the button?
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  17. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  18. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  21. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  22. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in biology
  2. hand — in cards
  3. net — in sport
  4. kid — child
  5. mate — a partner
  6. kid — to tease
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. net — for catching
  9. chair — a leader
  10. mate — to breed
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. press — to push
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. press — a publisher
  15. cell — a phone
  16. chair — to sit on
  17. net — after costs
  18. press — newspapers
  19. wind — moving air
  20. chair — a professorship
  21. wind — moving air
  22. mate — a friend
  23. hand — help
  24. cell — in a prison

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