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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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Word bank
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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: press · tear · bat · clip · suit · row

  1. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  3. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  4. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. Did you ________________ the button?
  11. When will it ________________ you to start?
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. press — a publisher
  3. suit — clothes
  4. suit — in cards
  5. tear — from crying
  6. row — a line
  7. clip — for paper
  8. clip — a video
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. press — to push
  11. suit — to fit
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. bat — the animal
  14. tear — to rip
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. clip — to cut
  17. press — newspapers
  18. row — to paddle

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