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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. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  6. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  7. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  8. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. Did you ________________ the meat?
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Did you ________________ the button?
  23. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  24. Where did you ________________ them?

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

Answer key

  1. season — of the year
  2. land — a country
  3. chest — of your body
  4. degree — temperature
  5. race — the arms race
  6. mug — a cup
  7. press — newspapers
  8. season — in sport
  9. land — ground
  10. mug — a face
  11. cold — an illness
  12. degree — an amount
  13. chest — of your body
  14. season — to add flavour
  15. race — a contest
  16. degree — from a university
  17. race — humankind
  18. chest — a box
  19. land — to come down
  20. cold — not warm
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. press — to push
  23. press — a publisher
  24. mug — to rob

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