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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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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 · chest · coach · spring · cold · saw · last · leaves

  1. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  5. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  6. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  7. He works in a ________________ mill.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. Did you ________________ the button?
  10. Have you met the new head ________________?
  11. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  12. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  13. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. False peace will not ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  22. She's very handy with a ________________.
  23. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. spring — of water
  3. chest — a box
  4. leaves — of a tree
  5. press — a publisher
  6. coach — pulled by horses
  7. saw — the tool
  8. chest — of your body
  9. press — to push
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. saw — past of 'see'
  12. press — newspapers
  13. last — final
  14. chest — of your body
  15. leaves — to go away
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. last — finally
  18. cold — not warm
  19. last — to go on
  20. cold — an illness
  21. leaves — lets stay
  22. saw — the tool
  23. coach — a trainer
  24. spring — a coil

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