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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. Did you ________________ the button?
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  8. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  11. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  12. That was ________________ to happen.
  13. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  14. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  15. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  16. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  17. There's no middle ________________.
  18. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  19. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  20. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  21. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. press — to push
  2. net — after costs
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. object — to protest
  5. clip — for paper
  6. net — in sport
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. object — an aim
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. bound — tied together
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. bound — certain
  13. press — a publisher
  14. ground — the earth
  15. patient — calm and waiting
  16. press — newspapers
  17. ground — a position
  18. bound — obliged
  19. net — for catching
  20. object — a thing
  21. ground — crushed
  22. clip — a video
  23. clip — to cut
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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