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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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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: mouse · press · kid · chair · chest · drill · rash · perch

  1. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  4. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  7. Did you ________________ the button?
  8. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  9. Don't do anything ________________.
  10. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  17. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  18. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  23. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. mouse — for a computer
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. rash — on the skin
  4. mouse — the animal
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. drill — army training
  7. press — to push
  8. rash — a series
  9. rash — hasty
  10. perch — the fish
  11. chair — a leader
  12. kid — to tease
  13. chest — of your body
  14. drill — a practice
  15. kid — child
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. press — newspapers
  18. mouse — the animal
  19. chest — of your body
  20. drill — the tool
  21. chest — a box
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. press — a publisher
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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