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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: patient · row · arm · cell · clip · fine · pit · press

  1. Did you ________________ the button?
  2. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  3. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  4. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  5. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  6. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  15. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  16. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  22. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  23. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  24. My father caught me by the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. press — to push
  2. pit — in a race
  3. press — a publisher
  4. arm — part of the body
  5. fine — all right
  6. patient — calm and waiting
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. fine — a penalty
  9. clip — a video
  10. clip — to cut
  11. pit — a fruit stone
  12. row — a line
  13. cell — in biology
  14. arm — a part of something
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. clip — for paper
  18. cell — a phone
  19. row — to paddle
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. fine — high quality
  22. press — newspapers
  23. pit — a hole
  24. arm — part of the body

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