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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.

Words on the sheet
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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 · rule · clip · land · object · degree

  1. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  2. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  3. Did you ________________ the button?
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  15. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  16. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.

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

Answer key

  1. object — to protest
  2. rule — a law
  3. press — to push
  4. degree — an amount
  5. clip — to cut
  6. rule — government
  7. land — a country
  8. degree — temperature
  9. degree — from a university
  10. clip — a video
  11. press — newspapers
  12. land — ground
  13. clip — for paper
  14. rule — to rule out
  15. press — a publisher
  16. object — an aim
  17. land — to come down
  18. object — a thing

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