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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: press · shower · land · chest · saw · wound · field · rush

  1. She's very handy with a ________________.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. Did you ________________ the button?
  9. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  12. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  13. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. He works in a ________________ mill.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. That must've been a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — the tool
  2. chest — of your body
  3. land — ground
  4. land — a country
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. land — to come down
  7. chest — a box
  8. press — to push
  9. press — a publisher
  10. field — farmland
  11. press — newspapers
  12. saw — past of 'see'
  13. rush — to hurry
  14. chest — of your body
  15. saw — the tool
  16. shower — rain
  17. shower — to wash
  18. rush — hurry
  19. field — a subject
  20. wound — an injury
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. field — for sport
  23. wound — an injury
  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