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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. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. Did you ________________ the button?
  3. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. The ________________ went through the wall.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  13. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  16. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  17. Don't do anything ________________.
  18. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  19. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  20. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  21. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  22. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  23. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. press — to push
  3. nail — for a hammer
  4. court — of a king
  5. wake — before a funeral
  6. court — for sport
  7. court — of law
  8. clip — for paper
  9. nail — for a hammer
  10. bat — the animal
  11. clip — a video
  12. wake — to stop sleeping
  13. rash — on the skin
  14. clip — to cut
  15. foot — part of the body
  16. foot — a measure
  17. rash — hasty
  18. nail — on a finger
  19. rash — a series
  20. wake — a trail
  21. press — a publisher
  22. press — newspapers
  23. foot — the bottom
  24. bat — for 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