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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: press · pitch · leaves · cold · hand · plane · chest · straw

  1. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  10. The ________________ took off on time.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  13. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  19. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  20. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  21. Did you ________________ the button?
  22. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  23. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. leaves — to go away
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. press — a publisher
  5. cold — not warm
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. chest — of your body
  9. plane — in geometry
  10. plane — an aircraft
  11. chest — of your body
  12. press — newspapers
  13. pitch — completely
  14. hand — help
  15. hand — in cards
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. cold — an illness
  18. leaves — lets stay
  19. plane — a tool
  20. leaves — of a tree
  21. press — to push
  22. pitch — a sports field
  23. pitch — a sales talk
  24. chest — a box

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