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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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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: pound · row · wind · press · prune · cell · face · rush

  1. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  7. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  8. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  9. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  16. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  22. Did you ________________ the button?
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. That must've been a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a line
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. press — a publisher
  4. cell — a phone
  5. prune — to trim
  6. face — part of the head
  7. rush — hurry
  8. rush — to hurry
  9. pound — for dogs
  10. face — to confront
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. prune — the fruit
  14. cell — in biology
  15. pound — a weight
  16. face — to point toward
  17. prune — to trim
  18. press — newspapers
  19. wind — moving air
  20. row — to paddle
  21. pound — to hit hard
  22. press — to push
  23. wind — moving air
  24. rush — a thrill

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