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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 · clip · pitcher · pound · snap · date · kid · drill

  1. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  3. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  8. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  9. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  10. He is an ace ________________.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  13. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  14. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  15. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. Did you ________________ the button?
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  20. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  24. Have you settled on a ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. pound — a weight
  3. pound — to hit hard
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. snap — to click
  6. kid — child
  7. snap — to snap out of it
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. date — the fruit
  10. pitcher — in baseball
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. press — a publisher
  14. drill — army training
  15. snap — to speak sharply
  16. drill — the tool
  17. press — to push
  18. clip — for paper
  19. pound — for dogs
  20. press — newspapers
  21. kid — to tease
  22. clip — a video
  23. drill — a practice
  24. date — on the calendar

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