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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: cold · chest · pitch · tube · press · fork · deal · sharp

  1. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  2. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  3. It's one o'clock ________________.
  4. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  7. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  8. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  9. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  10. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. I'll be taking the ________________.
  14. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  15. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  16. Did you ________________ the button?
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  19. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  24. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — clever
  2. press — a publisher
  3. sharp — exactly
  4. tube — in a tire
  5. chest — a box
  6. deal — a big deal
  7. pitch — a sales talk
  8. deal — an agreement
  9. fork — a garden tool
  10. fork — to eat with
  11. cold — an illness
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. tube — the underground
  14. sharp — with an edge
  15. pitch — a sports field
  16. press — to push
  17. chest — of your body
  18. deal — to handle
  19. press — newspapers
  20. chest — of your body
  21. fork — in a road
  22. cold — not warm
  23. tube — a container
  24. pitch — completely

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