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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. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  2. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  5. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  9. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  13. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  14. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  19. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. Did you ________________ the button?
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. press — a publisher
  2. chest — a box
  3. chest — of your body
  4. face — part of the head
  5. face — to point toward
  6. clip — to cut
  7. file — a line of people
  8. rule — to rule out
  9. pit — a fruit stone
  10. clip — for paper
  11. clip — a video
  12. pit — a hole
  13. face — to confront
  14. rule — government
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. file — a tool
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. rule — a law
  19. press — newspapers
  20. file — a document
  21. press — to push
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. pit — in a race
  24. chest — of your body

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