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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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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: face · mine · press · snap · scale · rest · shower · pound

  1. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  6. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  7. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  8. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  9. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  10. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  11. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  12. Did you ________________ the button?
  13. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  16. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  17. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  20. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  21. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  24. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. shower — rain
  5. press — a publisher
  6. pound — to hit hard
  7. face — part of the head
  8. pound — for dogs
  9. rest — what's left
  10. pound — a weight
  11. snap — to speak sharply
  12. press — to push
  13. scale — size or range
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. rest — what's left
  16. scale — in music
  17. rest — a break
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. scale — for weighing
  20. snap — to click
  21. press — newspapers
  22. shower — to wash
  23. face — to confront
  24. face — to point toward

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