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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 · band · last · press · land · bore · chest · pitcher

  1. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. Did you ________________ the button?
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  11. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  12. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  17. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  18. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  21. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  22. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. He is an ace ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. chest — of your body
  3. press — to push
  4. band — a ring
  5. calf — of the leg
  6. land — ground
  7. calf — a young animal
  8. last — to go on
  9. land — a country
  10. bore — gave birth
  11. band — a rubber band
  12. press — a publisher
  13. chest — a box
  14. calf — a young animal
  15. chest — of your body
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. last — final
  18. bore — to tire
  19. land — to come down
  20. press — newspapers
  21. bore — to drill
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. last — finally
  24. pitcher — in baseball

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