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

  1. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  7. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  13. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. Did you ________________ the button?
  16. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  21. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. spring — the season
  3. field — for sport
  4. degree — temperature
  5. degree — from a university
  6. staff — employees
  7. pound — a weight
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. pound — to hit hard
  11. field — farmland
  12. pound — for dogs
  13. press — newspapers
  14. field — a subject
  15. press — to push
  16. press — a publisher
  17. spring — of water
  18. content — happy
  19. degree — an amount
  20. staff — employees
  21. staff — a stick
  22. spring — a coil
  23. cell — a phone
  24. cell — in biology

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