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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: staff · saw · chest · spring · press · last · ground · rule

  1. False peace will not ________________.
  2. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  3. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. Did you ________________ the button?
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. He works in a ________________ mill.
  10. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  19. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  20. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. She's very handy with a ________________.
  23. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  24. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. rule — government
  3. staff — employees
  4. spring — the season
  5. ground — crushed
  6. press — to push
  7. last — final
  8. spring — of water
  9. saw — the tool
  10. staff — a stick
  11. chest — of your body
  12. chest — a box
  13. rule — a law
  14. spring — a coil
  15. ground — a position
  16. ground — the earth
  17. chest — of your body
  18. staff — employees
  19. saw — past of 'see'
  20. rule — to rule out
  21. last — finally
  22. saw — the tool
  23. press — newspapers
  24. press — a publisher

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