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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: chair · bulb · spring · pound · press · game · ground · clip

  1. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. Did you ________________ the button?
  6. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  19. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  20. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  21. The light ________________ burned out.
  22. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  23. I've got to change the light ________________.
  24. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. pound — a weight
  3. clip — a video
  4. ground — crushed
  5. press — to push
  6. press — a publisher
  7. chair — a leader
  8. spring — the season
  9. spring — of water
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. ground — a position
  13. clip — to cut
  14. clip — for paper
  15. game — a match
  16. press — newspapers
  17. spring — a coil
  18. ground — the earth
  19. bulb — of a plant
  20. pound — to hit hard
  21. bulb — for light
  22. pound — for dogs
  23. bulb — for light
  24. chair — to sit on

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