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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: clip · cell · rule · bat · press · fork

  1. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  2. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  12. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  13. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  14. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. Did you ________________ the button?
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?

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

Answer key

  1. fork — to eat with
  2. cell — in biology
  3. clip — a video
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. rule — a law
  6. clip — to cut
  7. clip — for paper
  8. bat — the animal
  9. fork — a garden tool
  10. cell — a phone
  11. rule — to rule out
  12. press — a publisher
  13. fork — in a road
  14. press — newspapers
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. press — to push
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. rule — government

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