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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. There's no middle ________________.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. Did you ________________ the button?
  7. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  8. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  14. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  18. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  19. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. I'll be taking the ________________.
  23. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  24. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — a position
  2. clip — for paper
  3. club — a group
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. wind — moving air
  6. press — to push
  7. tube — in a tire
  8. press — newspapers
  9. degree — from a university
  10. wind — moving air
  11. tube — a container
  12. ground — the earth
  13. club — for golf
  14. press — a publisher
  15. clip — a video
  16. degree — an amount
  17. ground — crushed
  18. root — of a plant
  19. club — for dancing
  20. clip — to cut
  21. degree — temperature
  22. tube — the underground
  23. root — of a word
  24. root — the cause

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