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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. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  2. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  3. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  4. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  16. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  17. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. Did you ________________ the button?
  22. Have you found your soul ________________?
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. Recycle the empty soda ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — a big deal
  2. press — a publisher
  3. press — newspapers
  4. mate — a friend
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. mate — to breed
  7. band — a music group
  8. clip — a video
  9. deal — to handle
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. cold — not warm
  12. band — a ring
  13. cold — an illness
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. deal — an agreement
  16. can — to be able to
  17. can — a tin
  18. clip — for paper
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. clip — to cut
  21. press — to push
  22. mate — a partner
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. can — a tin

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