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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 116 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: staff · fall · drill · clip · press · spring · march · shower

  1. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  4. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  5. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  6. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  7. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  8. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  23. Did you ________________ the button?
  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 — a video
  2. clip — to cut
  3. staff — a stick
  4. fall — the season
  5. march — music
  6. drill — the tool
  7. drill — army training
  8. staff — employees
  9. drill — a practice
  10. fall — to drop
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. press — newspapers
  13. shower — rain
  14. spring — a coil
  15. fall — to drop
  16. spring — the season
  17. press — a publisher
  18. shower — to wash
  19. march — the month
  20. spring — of water
  21. march — the month
  22. staff — employees
  23. press — to push
  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