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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: chest · prune · tube · perch · field · press · tear · saw

  1. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  3. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  6. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. I'll be taking the ________________.
  9. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  10. Did you ________________ the button?
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  17. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  18. He works in a ________________ mill.
  19. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  22. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  23. She's very handy with a ________________.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. chest — a box
  3. press — a publisher
  4. tear — to rip
  5. tube — in a tire
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. chest — of your body
  8. tube — the underground
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. press — to push
  11. field — farmland
  12. prune — to trim
  13. field — a subject
  14. chest — of your body
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. perch — the fish
  17. press — newspapers
  18. saw — the tool
  19. prune — to trim
  20. tear — from crying
  21. tube — a container
  22. saw — past of 'see'
  23. saw — the tool
  24. field — for sport

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