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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: trunk · hand · press · game · clip · pound · court · dip

  1. Did you ________________ the button?
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  18. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  19. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  20. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  21. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  22. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  23. The ball is in your ________________.
  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. press — to push
  2. clip — for paper
  3. game — wild animals
  4. game — a match
  5. court — of law
  6. hand — in cards
  7. pound — a weight
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. dip — to dunk
  10. court — of a king
  11. dip — to sink
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. hand — help
  14. trunk — of a tree
  15. clip — a video
  16. clip — to cut
  17. pound — for dogs
  18. trunk — of an elephant
  19. dip — a sauce
  20. press — a publisher
  21. pound — to hit hard
  22. trunk — of a car
  23. court — for sport
  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