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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. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  2. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. Did you ________________ the button?
  6. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  7. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. We're almost out of ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. You don't need to ________________ round.
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  24. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — to roll
  2. pop — music
  3. chest — of your body
  4. last — final
  5. press — to push
  6. bowl — a dish
  7. press — newspapers
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. press — a publisher
  10. clip — a video
  11. pound — a weight
  12. clip — for paper
  13. pop — soda
  14. clip — to cut
  15. pop — to visit
  16. last — to go on
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. chest — of your body
  19. bat — the animal
  20. pound — to hit hard
  21. last — finally
  22. chest — a box
  23. bowl — a football final
  24. pound — for dogs

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