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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: pound · wind · clip · press · tube · mate

  1. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  2. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  3. I'll be taking the ________________.
  4. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  5. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  6. Have you found your soul ________________?
  7. Did you ________________ the button?
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  14. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  15. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  16. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  17. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  18. 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. tube — a container
  2. pound — to hit hard
  3. tube — the underground
  4. mate — a friend
  5. press — a publisher
  6. mate — a partner
  7. press — to push
  8. wind — moving air
  9. clip — to cut
  10. wind — moving air
  11. clip — for paper
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. mate — to breed
  14. pound — a weight
  15. pound — for dogs
  16. press — newspapers
  17. tube — in a tire
  18. 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