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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 116 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. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  2. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  3. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  4. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  5. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  6. Did you ________________ the button?
  7. I've got to change the light ________________.
  8. David sat on the ________________.
  9. The King held a masked ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. How do you ________________ your surname?
  13. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  14. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  15. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  16. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. The light ________________ burned out.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — in music
  2. bulb — of a plant
  3. swing — in golf
  4. press — newspapers
  5. scale — for weighing
  6. press — to push
  7. bulb — for light
  8. swing — to play on
  9. ball — a dance
  10. cold — not warm
  11. clip — a video
  12. spell — letters
  13. press — a publisher
  14. ball — a round shape
  15. spell — a short time
  16. spell — magic
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. scale — size or range
  19. clip — for paper
  20. clip — to cut
  21. bulb — for light
  22. cold — an illness
  23. ball — a great time
  24. swing — music

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