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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  6. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  7. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  10. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. Did you ________________ the button?
  15. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  22. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  23. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  24. Do you need a ________________ with that?

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. game — a match
  3. cold — an illness
  4. cold — not warm
  5. press — a publisher
  6. bowl — a dish
  7. foot — part of the body
  8. clip — to cut
  9. leaves — to go away
  10. bowl — to roll
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. bowl — a football final
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. press — to push
  15. press — newspapers
  16. hand — in cards
  17. leaves — lets stay
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. clip — a video
  20. game — wild animals
  21. foot — a measure
  22. leaves — of a tree
  23. foot — the bottom
  24. hand — help

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