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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: rule · degree · court · press · bank · snap · race · clip

  1. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  4. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  18. The ball is in your ________________.
  19. Did you ________________ the button?
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. press — a publisher
  2. snap — to click
  3. snap — to snap out of it
  4. race — a contest
  5. clip — for paper
  6. rule — government
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. bank — of a river
  9. race — the arms race
  10. court — of law
  11. race — humankind
  12. clip — a video
  13. press — newspapers
  14. degree — from a university
  15. bank — for money
  16. degree — an amount
  17. bank — for money
  18. court — for sport
  19. press — to push
  20. court — of a king
  21. rule — to rule out
  22. clip — to cut
  23. rule — a law
  24. degree — temperature

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