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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: craft · clip · chair · chest · prune · squash · bass · press

  1. Did you ________________ the button?
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  7. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  8. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  9. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  16. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  19. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  22. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  23. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  24. I'd like to play a game of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. press — to push
  2. prune — to trim
  3. clip — to cut
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. clip — a video
  6. craft — boats
  7. press — a publisher
  8. craft — a handicraft
  9. squash — to crush
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. chest — of your body
  12. bass — low music
  13. clip — for paper
  14. chest — a box
  15. bass — the fish
  16. prune — to trim
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. bass — the instrument
  19. chair — a leader
  20. chest — of your body
  21. craft — a skill
  22. squash — the vegetable
  23. press — newspapers
  24. squash — the sport

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