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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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  3. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  7. Did you ________________ the button?
  8. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  14. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  19. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. dip — to dunk
  3. snap — to speak sharply
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. degree — from a university
  6. press — newspapers
  7. press — to push
  8. dip — to sink
  9. spring — of water
  10. can — a tin
  11. degree — an amount
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. snap — to click
  14. dip — a sauce
  15. cold — an illness
  16. wound — an injury
  17. spring — the season
  18. can — to be able to
  19. can — a tin
  20. cold — not warm
  21. press — a publisher
  22. wound — an injury
  23. degree — temperature
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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