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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: face · clip · staff · hide · bat · saw · ground · press

  1. There's no middle ________________.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  6. Did you ________________ the button?
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  9. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  10. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  14. He works in a ________________ mill.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  17. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  18. She's very handy with a ________________.
  19. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  20. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  21. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  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. ground — a position
  2. clip — a video
  3. face — to point toward
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. staff — a stick
  6. press — to push
  7. bat — the animal
  8. ground — the earth
  9. hide — to keep secret
  10. staff — employees
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. ground — crushed
  13. hide — to keep secret
  14. saw — the tool
  15. clip — to cut
  16. saw — past of 'see'
  17. staff — employees
  18. saw — the tool
  19. face — part of the head
  20. press — a publisher
  21. face — to confront
  22. clip — for paper
  23. hide — animal skin
  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