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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: field · press · clip · snap · tear · pop

  1. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  4. Did you ________________ the button?
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  13. We're almost out of ________________.
  14. You don't need to ________________ round.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  17. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  18. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. tear — to rip
  3. pop — music
  4. press — to push
  5. field — for sport
  6. clip — a video
  7. clip — for paper
  8. tear — from crying
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. tear — from crying
  11. field — farmland
  12. snap — to snap out of it
  13. pop — soda
  14. pop — to visit
  15. clip — to cut
  16. press — a publisher
  17. snap — to click
  18. press — newspapers

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