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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. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  4. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  8. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  9. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. Did you ________________ the button?
  12. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  13. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  14. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  18. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. There's no middle ________________.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. wave — of the sea
  2. bat — the animal
  3. wave — with your hand
  4. net — in sport
  5. ground — crushed
  6. clip — for paper
  7. net — after costs
  8. toast — the most admired
  9. toast — a drink to someone
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. press — to push
  12. net — for catching
  13. toast — bread
  14. press — a publisher
  15. clip — a video
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. wave — a sudden rise
  18. press — newspapers
  19. cold — an illness
  20. cold — not warm
  21. clip — to cut
  22. ground — a position
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. ground — the earth

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