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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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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: board · bat · degree · clip · cell · straw · pit · press

  1. He was locked up in a ________________.
  2. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  3. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  4. Did you ________________ the button?
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  12. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  24. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in a prison
  2. pit — in a race
  3. board — a flat piece
  4. press — to push
  5. degree — an amount
  6. clip — a video
  7. degree — from a university
  8. pit — a fruit stone
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. clip — to cut
  11. press — a publisher
  12. press — newspapers
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. bat — the animal
  15. pit — a hole
  16. degree — temperature
  17. cell — a phone
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. clip — for paper
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. cell — in biology
  23. board — to get on
  24. board — a committee

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