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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. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. That was ________________ to happen.
  6. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  7. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  8. Did you ________________ the meat?
  9. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  12. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  17. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. Did you ________________ the button?
  23. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  24. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. mine — for digging
  3. ruler — a monarch
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. bound — certain
  6. season — of the year
  7. ruler — for measuring
  8. season — to add flavour
  9. bound — obliged
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. season — in sport
  12. bound — tied together
  13. degree — temperature
  14. cold — not warm
  15. degree — from a university
  16. staff — a stick
  17. press — newspapers
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. ruler — for measuring
  20. degree — an amount
  21. cold — an illness
  22. press — to push
  23. press — a publisher
  24. staff — employees

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