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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: bound · fall · chest · march · field · press · cue · content

  1. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. That was ________________ to happen.
  6. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  12. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  15. Did you ________________ the button?
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  21. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  24. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. content — the amount
  3. field — for sport
  4. march — music
  5. bound — certain
  6. press — a publisher
  7. march — the month
  8. chest — of your body
  9. content — happy
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. bound — obliged
  12. fall — to drop
  13. chest — of your body
  14. cue — a signal
  15. press — to push
  16. field — farmland
  17. cue — for pool
  18. chest — a box
  19. march — the month
  20. cue — a hint
  21. bound — tied together
  22. field — a subject
  23. fall — the season
  24. press — newspapers

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