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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. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  5. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. Did you ________________ the button?
  8. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. Did you ________________ the meat?
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  23. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  24. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. spring — a coil
  3. tear — to rip
  4. season — of the year
  5. season — in sport
  6. cell — a phone
  7. press — to push
  8. vault — an arched ceiling
  9. bark — to shout
  10. press — newspapers
  11. tear — from crying
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. cell — in biology
  14. season — to add flavour
  15. spring — the season
  16. tear — from crying
  17. degree — temperature
  18. degree — from a university
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. degree — an amount
  22. vault — a safe
  23. vault — in gymnastics
  24. press — a publisher

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