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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. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  2. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  3. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  4. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  7. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  8. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Did you ________________ the button?
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. False peace will not ________________.
  20. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  23. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  24. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mouse — the animal
  2. bowl — to roll
  3. press — a publisher
  4. chip — to eat
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. mouse — the animal
  7. mouse — for a computer
  8. bowl — a football final
  9. clip — a video
  10. clip — to cut
  11. clip — for paper
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. last — final
  15. cold — an illness
  16. press — to push
  17. cold — not warm
  18. bat — the animal
  19. last — to go on
  20. chip — in a computer
  21. last — finally
  22. chip — for betting
  23. press — newspapers
  24. bowl — a dish

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