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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. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. Did you ________________ the button?
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  6. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  10. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  13. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  14. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  15. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. The King held a masked ________________.
  18. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  22. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — to sink
  2. degree — temperature
  3. press — to push
  4. degree — an amount
  5. ball — a round shape
  6. leaves — lets stay
  7. tear — to rip
  8. degree — from a university
  9. stem — of a plant
  10. stem — to come from
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. dip — a sauce
  13. ball — a great time
  14. stem — a stem cell
  15. leaves — of a tree
  16. cold — an illness
  17. ball — a dance
  18. press — a publisher
  19. cold — not warm
  20. tear — from crying
  21. dip — to dunk
  22. leaves — to go away
  23. tear — from crying
  24. press — newspapers

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