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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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  3. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  4. Did you ________________ the button?
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  12. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. press — a publisher
  3. lie — to recline
  4. press — to push
  5. clip — to cut
  6. trunk — of an elephant
  7. tear — from crying
  8. tear — from crying
  9. press — newspapers
  10. clip — a video
  11. trunk — of a tree
  12. lie — an untruth
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. trunk — of a car
  15. tear — to rip
  16. clip — for paper
  17. lie — an untruth
  18. kid — child

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