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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 116 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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  5. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  14. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  19. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  20. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  21. Did you ________________ the button?
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. kick — in football
  3. tear — from crying
  4. bear — to put up with
  5. fall — to drop
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. spring — the season
  8. kick — a thrill
  9. band — a ring
  10. bear — the animal
  11. band — a music group
  12. spring — of water
  13. bear — the animal
  14. fall — the season
  15. clip — to cut
  16. fall — to drop
  17. clip — a video
  18. kick — with a leg
  19. press — newspapers
  20. press — a publisher
  21. press — to push
  22. spring — a coil
  23. tear — to rip
  24. tear — from crying

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