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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: racket · saw · mate · chest · press · clip · tear · bear

  1. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  4. Did you ________________ the button?
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  8. He works in a ________________ mill.
  9. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  10. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  11. Have you found your soul ________________?
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  14. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  15. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  18. She's very handy with a ________________.
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  23. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. racket — a loud noise
  2. tear — to rip
  3. mate — to breed
  4. press — to push
  5. chest — a box
  6. clip — to cut
  7. bear — to put up with
  8. saw — the tool
  9. saw — past of 'see'
  10. racket — for tennis
  11. mate — a partner
  12. clip — for paper
  13. press — a publisher
  14. mate — a friend
  15. press — newspapers
  16. tear — from crying
  17. bear — the animal
  18. saw — the tool
  19. chest — of your body
  20. chest — of your body
  21. tear — from crying
  22. racket — for tennis
  23. bear — the animal
  24. clip — a video

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