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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. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  2. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  3. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  4. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  5. Did you ________________ the button?
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  8. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  14. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  18. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  22. David sat on the ________________.
  23. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  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. squash — the vegetable
  2. pit — a fruit stone
  3. press — a publisher
  4. squash — to crush
  5. press — to push
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. drill — a practice
  8. drill — the tool
  9. land — to come down
  10. bat — the animal
  11. squash — the sport
  12. clip — for paper
  13. press — newspapers
  14. swing — music
  15. land — ground
  16. clip — to cut
  17. pit — a hole
  18. drill — army training
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. land — a country
  21. pit — in a race
  22. swing — to play on
  23. swing — in golf
  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