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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. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  2. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  3. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  4. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  7. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. Don't do anything ________________.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. I'll be taking the ________________.
  16. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  17. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  18. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  19. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  20. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  23. Did you ________________ the button?
  24. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — a container
  2. squash — to crush
  3. tube — in a tire
  4. rash — on the skin
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. pound — a weight
  7. press — a publisher
  8. bat — the animal
  9. rash — hasty
  10. clip — a video
  11. fan — a supporter
  12. clip — for paper
  13. rash — a series
  14. clip — to cut
  15. tube — the underground
  16. pound — for dogs
  17. squash — the vegetable
  18. squash — the sport
  19. pound — to hit hard
  20. fan — a supporter
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. fan — to cool the air
  23. press — to push
  24. press — newspapers

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