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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 120 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 hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  9. Did you ________________ the button?
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  13. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  19. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  20. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. lie — to recline
  2. clip — a video
  3. tear — to rip
  4. clip — for paper
  5. tear — from crying
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. trunk — of an elephant
  9. press — to push
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. chair — a leader
  12. press — a publisher
  13. lie — an untruth
  14. kid — to tease
  15. kid — child
  16. press — newspapers
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. lie — an untruth
  19. chair — a professorship
  20. trunk — of a car
  21. clip — to cut
  22. bat — the animal
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. tear — from crying

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