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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: land · toast · swing · game · field · fall · chest · press

  1. David sat on the ________________.
  2. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  3. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. Did you ________________ the button?
  8. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. toast — the most admired
  3. press — a publisher
  4. game — a match
  5. chest — of your body
  6. fall — to drop
  7. press — to push
  8. press — newspapers
  9. field — farmland
  10. game — wild animals
  11. land — ground
  12. toast — bread
  13. chest — of your body
  14. fall — the season
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. field — for sport
  17. chest — a box
  18. land — a country
  19. field — a subject
  20. swing — in golf
  21. land — to come down
  22. fall — to drop
  23. swing — music
  24. toast — a drink to someone

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