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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: bay · press · band · field · kid · clip · suit · game

  1. Did you ________________ the button?
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  4. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  5. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  6. When will it ________________ you to start?
  7. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. My mare is ________________ in color.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  16. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. press — to push
  2. band — a ring
  3. bay — to keep at bay
  4. bay — a part of the sea
  5. press — a publisher
  6. suit — to fit
  7. suit — in cards
  8. field — for sport
  9. clip — for paper
  10. bay — a horse colour
  11. clip — to cut
  12. press — newspapers
  13. field — farmland
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. band — a rubber band
  16. band — a music group
  17. kid — to tease
  18. suit — clothes
  19. game — wild animals
  20. field — a subject
  21. clip — a video
  22. kid — child
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. game — a match

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