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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: bark · pound · face · ground · suit · club · press · clip

  1. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  2. Did you ________________ the button?
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  5. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  9. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. When will it ________________ you to start?
  17. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  18. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  19. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  20. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  21. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  24. Add some ________________ pepper to it.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for golf
  2. press — to push
  3. clip — to cut
  4. pound — a weight
  5. press — a publisher
  6. clip — for paper
  7. clip — a video
  8. suit — in cards
  9. face — to confront
  10. bark — to shout
  11. club — for dancing
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. press — newspapers
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. ground — a position
  16. suit — to fit
  17. pound — to hit hard
  18. ground — the earth
  19. face — to point toward
  20. pound — for dogs
  21. club — a group
  22. face — part of the head
  23. suit — clothes
  24. ground — crushed

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