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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. Did you ________________ the button?
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  9. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  16. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  17. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  18. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  22. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  23. There's no middle ________________.
  24. We had a fire ________________ at school today.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. press — to push
  3. cold — an illness
  4. trunk — of an elephant
  5. row — a line
  6. drill — army training
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. trunk — of a tree
  9. press — a publisher
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. ground — the earth
  12. ground — crushed
  13. row — to paddle
  14. clip — a video
  15. leaves — lets stay
  16. leaves — to go away
  17. press — newspapers
  18. drill — the tool
  19. clip — to cut
  20. cold — not warm
  21. trunk — of a car
  22. leaves — of a tree
  23. ground — a position
  24. drill — a practice

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