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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 120 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: chair · press · face · ground · bore · saw · shower · band

  1. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  6. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  7. Did you ________________ the button?
  8. She's very handy with a ________________.
  9. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  10. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  13. He works in a ________________ mill.
  14. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  15. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  19. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  20. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  24. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. face — to point toward
  3. ground — a position
  4. shower — to wash
  5. face — part of the head
  6. saw — past of 'see'
  7. press — to push
  8. saw — the tool
  9. chair — a leader
  10. press — a publisher
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. band — a ring
  13. saw — the tool
  14. band — a music group
  15. press — newspapers
  16. ground — the earth
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. bore — to tire
  19. bore — to drill
  20. chair — to sit on
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. shower — rain
  23. face — to confront
  24. bore — gave birth

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