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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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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 · club · chest · bat · sharp · band · net · hide

  1. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  2. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  3. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  6. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  9. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  12. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  13. It's one o'clock ________________.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  18. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  19. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. Did you ________________ the button?
  22. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. club — for dancing
  3. press — a publisher
  4. band — a ring
  5. press — newspapers
  6. sharp — clever
  7. chest — a box
  8. hide — to keep secret
  9. hide — to keep secret
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. club — for golf
  12. net — after costs
  13. sharp — exactly
  14. bat — the animal
  15. sharp — with an edge
  16. net — in sport
  17. net — for catching
  18. band — a rubber band
  19. hide — animal skin
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. press — to push
  22. band — a music group
  23. chest — of your body
  24. club — a group

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