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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  5. Did you ________________ the button?
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  9. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  13. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  19. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  20. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  21. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. kid — to tease
  3. hand — help
  4. wax — to grow
  5. press — to push
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. clip — a video
  8. bore — to tire
  9. wax — for sculpting
  10. cold — an illness
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. press — newspapers
  13. bore — to drill
  14. hand — in cards
  15. mark — a grade
  16. kid — child
  17. cold — not warm
  18. mark — a trace
  19. press — a publisher
  20. wax — in the ear
  21. bore — gave birth
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. mark — to pay attention
  24. clip — to cut

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