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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: wax · press · snap · lash · land · kick · clip · row

  1. Did you ________________ the button?
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  5. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  6. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  13. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  14. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  15. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  19. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  20. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  21. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. press — to push
  2. snap — to click
  3. wax — to grow
  4. snap — to speak sharply
  5. snap — to snap out of it
  6. wax — for sculpting
  7. clip — to cut
  8. land — to come down
  9. kick — a thrill
  10. clip — for paper
  11. land — a country
  12. lash — a whip stroke
  13. lash — an eyelash
  14. press — newspapers
  15. lash — to lash out
  16. row — a line
  17. land — ground
  18. row — a quarrel
  19. wax — in the ear
  20. kick — in football
  21. press — a publisher
  22. clip — a video
  23. kick — with a leg
  24. row — to paddle

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