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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. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. Did you ________________ the button?
  3. Did you ________________ the meat?
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  9. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  12. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  13. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  14. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  15. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  20. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  21. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  22. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  23. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. press — to push
  3. season — to add flavour
  4. degree — an amount
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. wind — moving air
  7. wind — moving air
  8. squash — to crush
  9. squash — the vegetable
  10. degree — temperature
  11. current — of water
  12. current — happening now
  13. scale — in music
  14. scale — size or range
  15. press — a publisher
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. band — a music group
  18. degree — from a university
  19. press — newspapers
  20. squash — the sport
  21. season — of the year
  22. season — in sport
  23. current — electric
  24. scale — for weighing

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