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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: press · clip · lash · snap · field · capital · pit · craft

  1. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  4. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  5. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  9. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  10. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  11. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  12. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  17. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. Did you ________________ the button?
  20. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  21. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  22. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — boats
  2. clip — a video
  3. press — a publisher
  4. lash — to lash out
  5. pit — a fruit stone
  6. clip — for paper
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. snap — to click
  9. pit — a hole
  10. pit — in a race
  11. lash — a whip stroke
  12. craft — a skill
  13. capital — money
  14. clip — to cut
  15. field — farmland
  16. press — newspapers
  17. lash — an eyelash
  18. field — a subject
  19. press — to push
  20. craft — a handicraft
  21. snap — to speak sharply
  22. snap — to snap out of it
  23. field — for sport
  24. capital — a city

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