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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: date · press · race · chest · pitcher · field · root · face

  1. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  3. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  4. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. Did you ________________ the button?
  9. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. He is an ace ________________.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  16. Have you settled on a ________________?
  17. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  18. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  19. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  20. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. press — a publisher
  3. date — the fruit
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. race — humankind
  6. face — to confront
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. press — to push
  9. press — newspapers
  10. field — farmland
  11. pitcher — in baseball
  12. race — the arms race
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. chest — of your body
  15. root — the cause
  16. date — on the calendar
  17. face — to point toward
  18. race — a contest
  19. root — of a word
  20. face — part of the head
  21. chest — a box
  22. root — of a plant
  23. field — for sport
  24. field — a subject

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