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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.

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: clip · saw · press · drill · bat · chest · net · cold

  1. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. Did you ________________ the button?
  13. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. He works in a ________________ mill.
  21. She's very handy with a ________________.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — a practice
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. drill — army training
  4. cold — not warm
  5. press — newspapers
  6. bat — the animal
  7. clip — for paper
  8. net — for catching
  9. press — a publisher
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. chest — of your body
  12. press — to push
  13. saw — past of 'see'
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. net — in sport
  16. net — after costs
  17. clip — to cut
  18. drill — the tool
  19. clip — a video
  20. saw — the tool
  21. saw — the tool
  22. chest — a box
  23. cold — an illness
  24. chest — of your body

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