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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: straw · press · chest · spring · cold · cell · cap · dip

  1. He was locked up in a ________________.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. Did you ________________ the button?
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  12. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in a prison
  2. spring — a coil
  3. press — to push
  4. cold — an illness
  5. cold — not warm
  6. cap — a lid
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. cap — a hat
  9. cell — a phone
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. dip — a sauce
  12. dip — to sink
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. press — newspapers
  15. cell — in biology
  16. cap — of ice
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. dip — to dunk
  19. chest — a box
  20. chest — of your body
  21. chest — of your body
  22. spring — of water
  23. press — a publisher
  24. spring — the season

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