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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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  6. Did you ________________ the button?
  7. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  10. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  14. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  15. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  21. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  22. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. capital — a city
  3. press — a publisher
  4. clip — to cut
  5. current — of water
  6. press — to push
  7. current — electric
  8. capital — money
  9. mark — to pay attention
  10. current — happening now
  11. clip — for paper
  12. kid — to tease
  13. mark — a trace
  14. mark — a grade
  15. rule — government
  16. kid — child
  17. rule — a law
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. snap — to snap out of it
  21. rule — to rule out
  22. press — newspapers
  23. clip — a video
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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