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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  3. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  11. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. It's one o'clock ________________.
  14. Did you ________________ the button?
  15. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  20. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  21. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  22. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. mark — to pay attention
  3. sharp — clever
  4. spring — a coil
  5. spring — the season
  6. degree — temperature
  7. toast — a drink to someone
  8. hand — in cards
  9. hand — help
  10. snap — to click
  11. snap — to snap out of it
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. sharp — exactly
  14. press — to push
  15. mark — a trace
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. mark — a grade
  18. spring — of water
  19. press — a publisher
  20. press — newspapers
  21. sharp — with an edge
  22. toast — bread
  23. degree — from a university
  24. toast — the most admired

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