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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. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  5. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Did you ________________ the button?
  12. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  17. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  21. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. Don't do anything ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — size or range
  2. clip — to cut
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. mouse — the animal
  5. court — of a king
  6. cold — an illness
  7. mouse — the animal
  8. land — ground
  9. clip — a video
  10. cold — not warm
  11. press — to push
  12. rash — on the skin
  13. land — to come down
  14. court — for sport
  15. clip — for paper
  16. press — newspapers
  17. mouse — for a computer
  18. court — of law
  19. scale — in music
  20. press — a publisher
  21. rash — a series
  22. land — a country
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. rash — hasty

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