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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: spring · firm · chest · game · press · saw · clip · club

  1. Did you ________________ the button?
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  7. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. He works in a ________________ mill.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  14. She's very handy with a ________________.
  15. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  22. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  23. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. press — to push
  2. chest — of your body
  3. spring — a coil
  4. clip — to cut
  5. chest — a box
  6. firm — decided
  7. saw — past of 'see'
  8. spring — the season
  9. club — a group
  10. game — wild animals
  11. saw — the tool
  12. spring — of water
  13. firm — a company
  14. saw — the tool
  15. club — for dancing
  16. game — a match
  17. press — newspapers
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. clip — a video
  20. chest — of your body
  21. firm — steady
  22. club — for golf
  23. press — a publisher
  24. clip — for paper

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