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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. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  3. Did you ________________ the button?
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  6. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. Have you met the new head ________________?
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. press — a publisher
  3. press — to push
  4. march — the month
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. press — newspapers
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. march — music
  9. fall — to drop
  10. game — a match
  11. march — the month
  12. fall — the season
  13. row — a line
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. degree — an amount
  16. game — wild animals
  17. row — to paddle
  18. spring — of water
  19. degree — from a university
  20. spring — the season
  21. fall — to drop
  22. spring — a coil
  23. coach — pulled by horses
  24. degree — temperature

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