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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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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: land · fall · cell · rash · press · clip · bank · coach

  1. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  5. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  6. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  10. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. Have you met the new head ________________?
  16. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  17. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  18. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  21. Don't do anything ________________.
  22. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  23. Did you ________________ the button?
  24. 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. cell — a phone
  2. press — a publisher
  3. land — to come down
  4. fall — to drop
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. bank — for money
  7. clip — for paper
  8. clip — to cut
  9. bank — for money
  10. coach — pulled by horses
  11. land — a country
  12. land — ground
  13. cell — in biology
  14. clip — a video
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. rash — a series
  17. fall — the season
  18. rash — on the skin
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. bank — of a river
  21. rash — hasty
  22. fall — to drop
  23. press — to push
  24. 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