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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 120 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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  5. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. Did you ________________ the button?
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. The tickets are free of ________________.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  19. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  22. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  23. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — in sport
  2. degree — from a university
  3. spring — of water
  4. net — for catching
  5. press — a publisher
  6. net — after costs
  7. shower — rain
  8. charge — electricity
  9. shower — to wash
  10. cell — in biology
  11. press — to push
  12. spring — the season
  13. charge — a price
  14. degree — temperature
  15. cell — a phone
  16. degree — an amount
  17. spring — a coil
  18. charge — in control
  19. wax — for sculpting
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. wax — to grow
  22. press — newspapers
  23. wax — in the ear
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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