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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 old man leaned on his ________________.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  4. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  5. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  6. I'll be taking the ________________.
  7. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  16. Did you ________________ the button?
  17. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  18. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  23. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. staff — a stick
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. club — a group
  4. staff — employees
  5. staff — employees
  6. tube — the underground
  7. press — newspapers
  8. clip — for paper
  9. club — for dancing
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. clip — to cut
  12. bat — the animal
  13. kick — a thrill
  14. cold — not warm
  15. kick — in football
  16. press — to push
  17. tube — a container
  18. tube — in a tire
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. kick — with a leg
  21. cold — an illness
  22. club — for golf
  23. press — a publisher
  24. clip — a video

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