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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. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  4. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Did you ________________ the button?
  7. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  10. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  17. The King held a masked ________________.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. He is an ace ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. root — of a plant
  2. land — a country
  3. ball — a round shape
  4. press — a publisher
  5. cold — an illness
  6. press — to push
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. file — a tool
  9. root — the cause
  10. ball — a great time
  11. clip — for paper
  12. land — ground
  13. file — a line of people
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. clip — to cut
  16. root — of a word
  17. ball — a dance
  18. land — to come down
  19. file — a document
  20. cold — not warm
  21. press — newspapers
  22. clip — a video
  23. pitcher — in baseball
  24. cold — the Cold War

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