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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. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  2. Did you ________________ the button?
  3. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  19. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  24. A ________________ is just a dried plum.

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

Answer key

  1. stick — a piece of wood
  2. press — to push
  3. stick — a piece of wood
  4. row — a line
  5. bore — gave birth
  6. cold — an illness
  7. press — newspapers
  8. clip — to cut
  9. bowl — a football final
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. prune — to trim
  12. bore — to drill
  13. row — to paddle
  14. clip — for paper
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. bore — to tire
  17. prune — to trim
  18. stick — to attach or keep to
  19. press — a publisher
  20. cold — not warm
  21. bowl — a dish
  22. clip — a video
  23. bowl — to roll
  24. prune — the fruit

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