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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. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. Did you ________________ the button?
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  11. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  18. There's no middle ________________.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — the earth
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. press — a publisher
  4. ground — crushed
  5. mine — for digging
  6. clip — to cut
  7. row — a line
  8. press — to push
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. snap — to click
  11. press — newspapers
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. snap — to speak sharply
  14. row — to paddle
  15. wave — a sudden rise
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. wave — with your hand
  18. ground — a position
  19. bat — the animal
  20. clip — a video
  21. snap — to snap out of it
  22. clip — for paper
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. wave — of the sea

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