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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 120 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: wave · hand · clip · pound · cell · press

  1. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  2. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  3. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  4. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  5. Did you ________________ the button?
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  12. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?

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

Answer key

  1. press — a publisher
  2. pound — to hit hard
  3. wave — of the sea
  4. wave — a sudden rise
  5. press — to push
  6. hand — in cards
  7. press — newspapers
  8. cell — a phone
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. pound — a weight
  12. pound — for dogs
  13. clip — for paper
  14. clip — to cut
  15. wave — with your hand
  16. cell — in biology
  17. clip — a video
  18. hand — help

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