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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  4. She's very handy with a ________________.
  5. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  12. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  13. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  14. Did you ________________ the button?
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. He works in a ________________ mill.
  17. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  24. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. press — a publisher
  4. saw — the tool
  5. squash — the sport
  6. clip — for paper
  7. fork — a garden tool
  8. march — the month
  9. press — newspapers
  10. field — for sport
  11. squash — to crush
  12. wax — to grow
  13. saw — past of 'see'
  14. press — to push
  15. clip — a video
  16. saw — the tool
  17. wax — in the ear
  18. field — a subject
  19. field — farmland
  20. march — the month
  21. march — music
  22. fork — in a road
  23. squash — the vegetable
  24. fork — to eat with

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