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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. Did you ________________ the button?
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  4. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  5. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. There's no middle ________________.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  14. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  15. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  16. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  17. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  23. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. press — to push
  2. mate — a partner
  3. mate — to breed
  4. ground — the earth
  5. bark — a dog's sound
  6. land — ground
  7. ground — a position
  8. band — a ring
  9. clip — for paper
  10. land — to come down
  11. clip — to cut
  12. ground — crushed
  13. object — to protest
  14. press — a publisher
  15. band — a rubber band
  16. object — a thing
  17. object — an aim
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. press — newspapers
  20. bark — to shout
  21. land — a country
  22. band — a music group
  23. mate — a friend
  24. clip — a video

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