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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 124 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. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  2. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  3. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  7. He works in a ________________ mill.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  13. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. Don't do anything ________________.
  16. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. She's very handy with a ________________.
  21. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  22. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  23. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  24. Did you ________________ the button?

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

Answer key

  1. pound — for dogs
  2. pound — to hit hard
  3. press — newspapers
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. wind — moving air
  6. rash — on the skin
  7. saw — the tool
  8. wind — moving air
  9. hand — in cards
  10. clip — to cut
  11. clip — for paper
  12. rash — a series
  13. saw — past of 'see'
  14. clip — a video
  15. rash — hasty
  16. scale — size or range
  17. hand — help
  18. press — a publisher
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. saw — the tool
  21. pound — a weight
  22. scale — for weighing
  23. scale — in music
  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