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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. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  2. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. Have you met the new head ________________?
  11. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  12. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  13. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  14. Did you ________________ the button?
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. There's no middle ________________.
  18. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  19. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  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. ground — the earth
  2. vault — a safe
  3. clip — to cut
  4. clip — for paper
  5. press — a publisher
  6. shower — to wash
  7. clip — a video
  8. wax — to grow
  9. wind — moving air
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. coach — pulled by horses
  12. wax — in the ear
  13. vault — in gymnastics
  14. press — to push
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. ground — a position
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. vault — an arched ceiling
  20. shower — rain
  21. ground — crushed
  22. wind — moving air
  23. wind — to turn a key
  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