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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. Did you ________________ the button?
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  6. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  7. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  8. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. The King held a masked ________________.
  12. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  15. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  16. It's one o'clock ________________.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  24. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. press — to push
  2. band — a music group
  3. degree — temperature
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. sharp — with an edge
  6. craft — a skill
  7. sharp — clever
  8. press — a publisher
  9. cell — in biology
  10. cell — a phone
  11. ball — a dance
  12. press — newspapers
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. craft — boats
  15. craft — a handicraft
  16. sharp — exactly
  17. wound — an injury
  18. wound — an injury
  19. degree — an amount
  20. ball — a great time
  21. degree — from a university
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. ball — a round shape
  24. band — a ring

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