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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. I'll be taking the ________________.
  10. Have you settled on a ________________?
  11. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  15. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  18. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  19. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  20. Did you ________________ the button?
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  23. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  24. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. court — for sport
  4. tube — in a tire
  5. prune — to trim
  6. clip — a video
  7. court — of a king
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. tube — the underground
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. press — a publisher
  12. clip — to cut
  13. court — of law
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. date — the fruit
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. press — newspapers
  19. prune — to trim
  20. press — to push
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. tube — a container
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. perch — the fish

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