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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: chest · calf · fan · capital · wound · pitch · snap · press

  1. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  2. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  8. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  9. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  10. Did you ________________ the button?
  11. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  23. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  24. He had ________________ pain while walking.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — completely
  2. calf — a young animal
  3. chest — of your body
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. wound — an injury
  7. pitch — a sports field
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. snap — to snap out of it
  10. press — to push
  11. snap — to click
  12. capital — a city
  13. chest — a box
  14. pitch — a sales talk
  15. capital — money
  16. fan — to cool the air
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. chest — of your body
  19. press — a publisher
  20. wound — an injury
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. press — newspapers
  23. calf — a young animal
  24. calf — of the leg

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