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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  3. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  4. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  7. I'll be taking the ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. There's no middle ________________.
  10. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. Did you ________________ the button?
  13. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  14. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  17. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  18. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. dip — to sink
  3. ground — the earth
  4. root — of a word
  5. cold — not warm
  6. dip — to dunk
  7. tube — the underground
  8. clip — a video
  9. ground — a position
  10. root — of a plant
  11. ground — crushed
  12. press — to push
  13. dip — a sauce
  14. tube — a container
  15. clip — to cut
  16. press — newspapers
  17. tube — in a tire
  18. root — the cause
  19. file — a tool
  20. file — a document
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. file — a line of people
  23. clip — for paper
  24. press — a publisher

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