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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. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  2. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  6. Don't do anything ________________.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. The ________________ market has crashed.
  9. Did you ________________ the button?
  10. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  11. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  14. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  15. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  16. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  23. How do you ________________ your surname?
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — on the skin
  2. cell — in biology
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. clip — to cut
  5. press — newspapers
  6. rash — hasty
  7. degree — an amount
  8. stock — shares
  9. press — to push
  10. bark — a dog's sound
  11. spell — a short time
  12. clip — for paper
  13. press — a publisher
  14. stock — goods
  15. bark — to shout
  16. stock — a soup base
  17. degree — temperature
  18. cell — a phone
  19. rash — a series
  20. clip — a video
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. spell — magic
  23. spell — letters
  24. degree — from a university

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