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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: craft · band · hand · face · cold · press · pitch · kick

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Did you ________________ the button?
  3. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  4. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  5. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  10. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  11. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  12. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  15. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  16. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  17. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  18. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  19. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  20. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  21. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  22. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. press — to push
  3. kick — a thrill
  4. press — a publisher
  5. face — to confront
  6. hand — in cards
  7. cold — not warm
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. press — newspapers
  10. face — to point toward
  11. craft — a skill
  12. craft — boats
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. pitch — a sales talk
  15. pitch — completely
  16. kick — with a leg
  17. pitch — a sports field
  18. band — a ring
  19. face — part of the head
  20. band — a music group
  21. craft — a handicraft
  22. kick — in football
  23. hand — help
  24. hand — part of the 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