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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 strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. She's very handy with a ________________.
  3. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  4. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  5. You don't need to ________________ round.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  8. We're almost out of ________________.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  12. He works in a ________________ mill.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  15. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  16. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  17. Have you met the new head ________________?
  18. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  19. Did you ________________ the button?
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. saw — the tool
  3. coach — pulled by horses
  4. pound — for dogs
  5. pop — to visit
  6. clip — for paper
  7. saw — past of 'see'
  8. pop — soda
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. wind — moving air
  11. pound — to hit hard
  12. saw — the tool
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. press — newspapers
  15. press — a publisher
  16. pop — music
  17. coach — a trainer
  18. pound — a weight
  19. press — to push
  20. capital — a city
  21. capital — money
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. clip — a video
  24. clip — to cut

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