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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: chest · bound · degree · pitch · file · field · press · drill

  1. That was ________________ to happen.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  4. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. Did you ________________ the button?
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  18. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  19. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  20. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  21. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  22. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  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. bound — certain
  2. chest — of your body
  3. drill — a practice
  4. pitch — a sales talk
  5. file — a document
  6. pitch — completely
  7. field — farmland
  8. press — to push
  9. chest — of your body
  10. file — a line of people
  11. file — a tool
  12. degree — an amount
  13. degree — from a university
  14. bound — obliged
  15. degree — temperature
  16. field — for sport
  17. press — newspapers
  18. press — a publisher
  19. drill — army training
  20. pitch — a sports field
  21. bound — tied together
  22. drill — the tool
  23. field — a subject
  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