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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: club · face · press · rash · stem · land · bat · clip

  1. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  2. Did you ________________ the button?
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  6. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  7. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  10. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  11. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  14. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  15. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  16. Don't do anything ________________.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.

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

Answer key

  1. club — a group
  2. press — to push
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. land — a country
  5. club — for dancing
  6. face — to confront
  7. stem — of a plant
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. rash — a series
  10. press — newspapers
  11. rash — on the skin
  12. clip — a video
  13. face — to point toward
  14. stem — a stem cell
  15. stem — to come from
  16. rash — hasty
  17. land — to come down
  18. land — ground
  19. face — part of the head
  20. bat — the animal
  21. club — for golf
  22. clip — to cut
  23. clip — for paper
  24. press — a publisher

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