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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. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  6. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  7. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  8. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  9. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  17. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  18. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  19. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  20. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  21. Did you ________________ the button?
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to speak sharply
  2. land — ground
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. fan — to cool the air
  6. snap — to click
  7. wax — for sculpting
  8. press — a publisher
  9. snap — to snap out of it
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. clip — for paper
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. land — to come down
  14. wax — to grow
  15. land — a country
  16. perch — the fish
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. press — newspapers
  21. press — to push
  22. bat — the animal
  23. clip — to cut
  24. clip — a video

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