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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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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: plane · press · racket · face · stick · fork · clip · cold

  1. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  4. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  5. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  8. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  9. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  10. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  11. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  12. The ________________ took off on time.
  13. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  14. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  15. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  16. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  17. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  18. Did you ________________ the button?
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  24. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. clip — for paper
  3. plane — in geometry
  4. racket — a loud noise
  5. face — to confront
  6. cold — not warm
  7. fork — in a road
  8. fork — a garden tool
  9. face — part of the head
  10. plane — a tool
  11. face — to point toward
  12. plane — an aircraft
  13. press — a publisher
  14. stick — a piece of wood
  15. racket — for tennis
  16. stick — a piece of wood
  17. racket — for tennis
  18. press — to push
  19. cold — an illness
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. stick — to attach or keep to
  22. clip — to cut
  23. press — newspapers
  24. fork — to eat with

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