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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.

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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: capital · chest · lash · clip · bark · press · rest · squash

  1. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  2. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  3. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  12. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  16. Did you ________________ the button?
  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 lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  21. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  22. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the sport
  2. squash — to crush
  3. rest — what's left
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. bark — to shout
  6. chest — of your body
  7. clip — a video
  8. chest — of your body
  9. squash — the vegetable
  10. clip — for paper
  11. lash — an eyelash
  12. rest — a break
  13. capital — money
  14. capital — a city
  15. lash — a whip stroke
  16. press — to push
  17. press — newspapers
  18. press — a publisher
  19. chest — a box
  20. rest — what's left
  21. bark — of a tree
  22. lash — to lash out
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. clip — to cut

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