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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. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. The ________________ took off on time.
  4. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  5. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. Did you ________________ the button?
  9. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  13. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  14. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  15. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  21. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  22. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  23. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a tool
  2. band — a ring
  3. plane — an aircraft
  4. press — a publisher
  5. plane — in geometry
  6. file — a document
  7. bat — the animal
  8. press — to push
  9. perch — the fish
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. wind — moving air
  12. stem — a stem cell
  13. plane — a tool
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. stem — of a plant
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. band — a music group
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. wind — moving air
  22. press — newspapers
  23. stem — to come from
  24. file — a line of people

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