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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: chest · tear · march · straw · pound · safe · press · land

  1. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  8. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. Did you ________________ the button?
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  19. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. press — a publisher
  2. chest — of your body
  3. pound — a weight
  4. land — ground
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. march — the month
  7. safe — out of danger
  8. safe — a strongbox
  9. march — music
  10. tear — from crying
  11. tear — from crying
  12. press — newspapers
  13. chest — a box
  14. safe — out of danger
  15. march — the month
  16. press — to push
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. pound — to hit hard
  19. pound — for dogs
  20. land — to come down
  21. chest — of your body
  22. land — a country
  23. tear — to rip
  24. straw — dry grass

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