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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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  3. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. Did you ________________ the button?
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  11. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  14. The light ________________ burned out.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. Did you ________________ the meat?
  17. I've got to change the light ________________.
  18. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  23. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  24. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. season — in sport
  3. season — of the year
  4. wind — moving air
  5. cue — a signal
  6. land — to come down
  7. wind — moving air
  8. press — to push
  9. clip — to cut
  10. cue — a hint
  11. root — the cause
  12. clip — for paper
  13. root — of a word
  14. bulb — for light
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. season — to add flavour
  17. bulb — for light
  18. root — of a plant
  19. clip — a video
  20. bulb — of a plant
  21. land — a country
  22. cue — for pool
  23. press — newspapers
  24. press — a publisher

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