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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. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. Did you ________________ the button?
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  8. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  9. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  10. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  16. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  17. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  18. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  22. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  23. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. spell — a short time
  3. cold — an illness
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. press — to push
  6. clip — for paper
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. mark — a grade
  9. spell — magic
  10. patient — calm and waiting
  11. content — happy
  12. cold — not warm
  13. mark — to pay attention
  14. clip — a video
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. mark — a trace
  17. press — a publisher
  18. wake — a trail
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. clip — to cut
  21. wake — before a funeral
  22. wake — to stop sleeping
  23. press — newspapers
  24. content — the amount

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