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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 · chest · fan · wound · pitch · cold · snap · board

  1. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  2. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  8. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  9. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  10. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  11. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  12. Did you ________________ the button?
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  17. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  20. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — completely
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. chest — of your body
  4. press — a publisher
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. wound — an injury
  7. press — newspapers
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. board — a committee
  10. snap — to speak sharply
  11. pitch — a sports field
  12. press — to push
  13. cold — not warm
  14. chest — of your body
  15. cold — an illness
  16. board — a flat piece
  17. pitch — a sales talk
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. wound — past of 'wind'
  20. board — to get on
  21. wound — an injury
  22. fan — to cool the air
  23. chest — a box
  24. snap — to click

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