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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. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. David sat on the ________________.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  19. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  20. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  21. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  22. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  23. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  24. Did you ________________ the button?

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. kick — with a leg
  4. clip — to cut
  5. face — to point toward
  6. mine — for digging
  7. row — to paddle
  8. cell — in biology
  9. cell — a phone
  10. clip — for paper
  11. press — a publisher
  12. clip — a video
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. swing — to play on
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. swing — music
  17. swing — in golf
  18. kick — a thrill
  19. face — to confront
  20. press — newspapers
  21. face — part of the head
  22. kick — in football
  23. row — a line
  24. press — to push

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