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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: march · chest · kid · sharp · press · bound · spring · can

  1. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  10. That was ________________ to happen.
  11. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. It's one o'clock ________________.
  15. Did you ________________ the button?
  16. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  19. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  22. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  23. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. can — a tin
  2. march — music
  3. kid — to tease
  4. can — to be able to
  5. chest — of your body
  6. kid — child
  7. chest — a box
  8. spring — of water
  9. can — a tin
  10. bound — certain
  11. bound — obliged
  12. march — the month
  13. chest — of your body
  14. sharp — exactly
  15. press — to push
  16. press — newspapers
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. bound — tied together
  19. press — a publisher
  20. spring — a coil
  21. sharp — clever
  22. sharp — with an edge
  23. march — the month
  24. spring — the season

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