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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 120 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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  4. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  5. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. He is an ace ________________.
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  13. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  14. The ________________ market has crashed.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Did you ________________ the button?
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. band — a music group
  3. stock — goods
  4. drill — a practice
  5. press — newspapers
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. pitcher — in baseball
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. clip — to cut
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. band — a ring
  12. press — a publisher
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. stock — shares
  15. drill — army training
  16. drill — the tool
  17. cold — not warm
  18. press — to push
  19. game — wild animals
  20. clip — a video
  21. game — a match
  22. stock — a soup base
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. cold — an illness

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