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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 116 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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  7. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. We're almost out of ________________.
  15. You don't need to ________________ round.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  18. Did you ________________ the button?
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  23. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  24. The spa offers ________________ extensions.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. land — ground
  3. snap — to click
  4. pop — music
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. wake — before a funeral
  7. lash — a whip stroke
  8. degree — temperature
  9. degree — an amount
  10. wake — a trail
  11. land — to come down
  12. lash — to lash out
  13. cold — an illness
  14. pop — soda
  15. pop — to visit
  16. land — a country
  17. press — newspapers
  18. press — to push
  19. cold — not warm
  20. wake — to stop sleeping
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. snap — to snap out of it
  23. press — a publisher
  24. lash — an eyelash

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