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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: rule · kid · hide · press · degree · season

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. Did you ________________ the button?
  4. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  5. Did you ________________ the meat?
  6. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  11. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  12. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  13. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  14. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  17. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. degree — an amount
  3. press — to push
  4. rule — a law
  5. season — to add flavour
  6. season — of the year
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. season — in sport
  9. degree — from a university
  10. hide — animal skin
  11. rule — to rule out
  12. hide — to keep secret
  13. hide — to keep secret
  14. press — a publisher
  15. degree — temperature
  16. rule — government
  17. press — newspapers
  18. kid — child

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