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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. She's very handy with a ________________.
  2. Did you ________________ the button?
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. He works in a ________________ mill.
  7. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  11. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  21. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. saw — the tool
  2. press — to push
  3. last — final
  4. saw — past of 'see'
  5. clip — a video
  6. saw — the tool
  7. wax — for sculpting
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. land — a country
  10. press — a publisher
  11. wax — in the ear
  12. land — ground
  13. cell — a phone
  14. cell — in biology
  15. last — finally
  16. wound — an injury
  17. clip — to cut
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. clip — for paper
  20. press — newspapers
  21. wax — to grow
  22. wound — an injury
  23. last — to go on
  24. land — to come down

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