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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 · degree · bat · chest · mine · bound · leaves · deal

  1. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  8. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  9. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  10. That was ________________ to happen.
  11. Did you ________________ the button?
  12. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  15. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  21. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  22. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. chest — of your body
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. bound — tied together
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. press — newspapers
  8. press — a publisher
  9. bound — obliged
  10. bound — certain
  11. press — to push
  12. leaves — lets stay
  13. degree — from a university
  14. deal — an agreement
  15. leaves — to go away
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. degree — temperature
  18. chest — a box
  19. mine — for digging
  20. leaves — of a tree
  21. deal — a big deal
  22. deal — to handle
  23. degree — an amount
  24. chest — of your body

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