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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: calf · press · band · mug · chest · drill · chip · cold

  1. Did you ________________ the button?
  2. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  3. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  8. Where did you ________________ them?
  9. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  10. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  11. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  14. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  18. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  19. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  22. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. press — to push
  2. band — a rubber band
  3. chip — for betting
  4. band — a ring
  5. cold — not warm
  6. chest — of your body
  7. calf — a young animal
  8. mug — to rob
  9. drill — army training
  10. drill — a practice
  11. chip — in a computer
  12. band — a music group
  13. chip — to eat
  14. mug — a cup
  15. drill — the tool
  16. cold — an illness
  17. mug — a face
  18. press — a publisher
  19. calf — of the leg
  20. chest — of your body
  21. press — newspapers
  22. calf — a young animal
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. chest — a box

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