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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: hand · press · rest · tear · clip · land · cap · last

  1. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. Did you ________________ the button?
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  12. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  13. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  14. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  15. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  19. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  20. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  21. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. hand — help
  3. tear — from crying
  4. last — final
  5. last — to go on
  6. tear — from crying
  7. hand — in cards
  8. clip — a video
  9. press — to push
  10. land — ground
  11. press — a publisher
  12. cap — of ice
  13. rest — a break
  14. rest — what's left
  15. last — finally
  16. land — to come down
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. cap — a lid
  19. press — newspapers
  20. rest — what's left
  21. cap — a hat
  22. tear — to rip
  23. land — a country
  24. clip — for paper

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