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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. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  2. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  3. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  4. Did you ________________ the button?
  5. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  6. That must've been a ________________.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  20. This piece is in a major ________________.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  23. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  24. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. lean — to bend
  3. key — for a lock
  4. press — to push
  5. key — the most important part
  6. rush — a thrill
  7. chest — a box
  8. rush — hurry
  9. chest — of your body
  10. rush — to hurry
  11. wound — an injury
  12. press — a publisher
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. clip — to cut
  15. chest — of your body
  16. perch — the fish
  17. clip — a video
  18. wound — an injury
  19. lean — to rest against
  20. key — in music
  21. clip — for paper
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. lean — thin
  24. press — newspapers

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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