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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 116 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. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  4. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  5. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  6. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  9. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  10. That was ________________ to happen.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. Did you ________________ the button?
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  21. Don't do anything ________________.
  22. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  24. What was your ________________ profit last year?

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

Answer key

  1. press — a publisher
  2. band — a music group
  3. rule — government
  4. rule — a law
  5. bound — tied together
  6. rash — on the skin
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. bound — obliged
  9. rash — a series
  10. bound — certain
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. press — to push
  13. clip — for paper
  14. band — a ring
  15. press — newspapers
  16. clip — to cut
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. bat — the animal
  19. clip — a video
  20. rule — to rule out
  21. rash — hasty
  22. net — in sport
  23. net — for catching
  24. net — after costs

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