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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. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  2. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  6. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  7. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  8. Did you ________________ the button?
  9. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  10. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  11. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  12. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  15. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  23. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  24. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. root — of a word
  2. bank — for money
  3. clip — to cut
  4. shower — to wash
  5. squash — to crush
  6. squash — the sport
  7. root — the cause
  8. press — to push
  9. trunk — of a tree
  10. scale — in music
  11. squash — the vegetable
  12. trunk — of an elephant
  13. clip — for paper
  14. press — newspapers
  15. bank — for money
  16. clip — a video
  17. trunk — of a car
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. shower — rain
  20. press — a publisher
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. root — of a plant
  23. scale — size or range
  24. bank — of a river

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