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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. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  5. Did you ________________ the button?
  6. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  7. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  8. I'll be taking the ________________.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  11. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  12. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  13. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  16. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  17. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  20. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  21. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.

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

Answer key

  1. press — a publisher
  2. chair — a leader
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. perch — the fish
  5. press — to push
  6. lie — an untruth
  7. pitch — a sales talk
  8. tube — the underground
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. pitch — a sports field
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. tube — a container
  13. chair — a professorship
  14. clip — to cut
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. press — newspapers
  17. tube — in a tire
  18. clip — a video
  19. chair — to sit on
  20. pitch — completely
  21. lie — an untruth
  22. bat — the animal
  23. clip — for paper
  24. lie — to recline

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