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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. Did you ________________ the button?
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  5. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  13. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  16. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  21. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  22. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  23. My mare is ________________ in color.
  24. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. press — to push
  2. clip — a video
  3. net — after costs
  4. club — for dancing
  5. club — for golf
  6. clip — to cut
  7. face — to point toward
  8. clip — for paper
  9. bay — a part of the sea
  10. cold — not warm
  11. cold — an illness
  12. club — a group
  13. press — newspapers
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. press — a publisher
  16. face — part of the head
  17. capital — money
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. capital — a city
  20. face — to confront
  21. bay — to keep at bay
  22. net — for catching
  23. bay — a horse colour
  24. net — in sport

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