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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. She's very handy with a ________________.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  4. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  5. Did you ________________ the button?
  6. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  7. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  8. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  13. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  14. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  15. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. He works in a ________________ mill.
  19. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  20. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  21. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — the tool
  2. wind — moving air
  3. chair — to sit on
  4. cap — of ice
  5. press — to push
  6. snap — to snap out of it
  7. press — a publisher
  8. cap — a lid
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. spring — of water
  11. wind — moving air
  12. saw — past of 'see'
  13. snap — to click
  14. chair — a leader
  15. cap — a hat
  16. clip — for paper
  17. clip — a video
  18. saw — the tool
  19. press — newspapers
  20. snap — to speak sharply
  21. chair — a professorship
  22. spring — a coil
  23. clip — to cut
  24. spring — the season

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