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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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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 make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  2. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  3. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  4. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. Did you ________________ the button?
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  11. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  12. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  13. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — a big deal
  2. net — for catching
  3. rest — what's left
  4. rest — a break
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. shower — to wash
  8. press — to push
  9. cell — in biology
  10. press — a publisher
  11. deal — an agreement
  12. deal — to handle
  13. rest — what's left
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. press — newspapers
  16. clip — a video
  17. net — after costs
  18. clip — to cut
  19. clip — for paper
  20. cell — a phone
  21. net — in sport
  22. shower — rain
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. bat — the animal

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