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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: lean · chest · press · clip · prune · shower · rush · pop

  1. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. That must've been a ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. We're almost out of ________________.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  13. You don't need to ________________ round.
  14. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  15. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  16. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  17. Did you ________________ the button?
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  20. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  21. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — to hurry
  2. prune — to trim
  3. prune — to trim
  4. lean — thin
  5. chest — of your body
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. rush — a thrill
  8. clip — a video
  9. pop — soda
  10. chest — of your body
  11. clip — for paper
  12. pop — music
  13. pop — to visit
  14. press — a publisher
  15. lean — to rest against
  16. lean — to bend
  17. press — to push
  18. shower — to wash
  19. prune — the fruit
  20. rush — hurry
  21. press — newspapers
  22. clip — to cut
  23. chest — a box
  24. shower — rain

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