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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: chest · fall · temple · cold · press · trunk · last · race

  1. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  2. When was this ________________ built?
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  10. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  15. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  20. Did you ________________ the button?
  21. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. temple — a place of worship
  3. last — finally
  4. chest — of your body
  5. last — final
  6. trunk — of a tree
  7. race — a contest
  8. last — to go on
  9. trunk — of an elephant
  10. trunk — of a car
  11. cold — an illness
  12. press — newspapers
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. fall — to drop
  15. temple — side of the head
  16. chest — of your body
  17. cold — not warm
  18. chest — a box
  19. press — a publisher
  20. press — to push
  21. temple — a place of worship
  22. race — the arms race
  23. race — humankind
  24. fall — 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