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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  4. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. What do you think of the new ________________?
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  11. Did you ________________ the button?
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. clip — to cut
  3. cabinet — ministers
  4. cabinet — a cupboard
  5. field — for sport
  6. cabinet — ministers
  7. field — a subject
  8. clip — a video
  9. wind — moving air
  10. drill — the tool
  11. press — to push
  12. tear — to rip
  13. tear — from crying
  14. tear — from crying
  15. wind — moving air
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. field — farmland
  18. press — newspapers
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. drill — a practice
  21. game — wild animals
  22. press — a publisher
  23. game — a match
  24. drill — army training

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