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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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Word bank
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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: kid · degree · mine · press · rule · spell

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. Did you ________________ the button?
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  18. 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. degree — from a university
  2. spell — letters
  3. spell — magic
  4. press — to push
  5. spell — a short time
  6. press — a publisher
  7. degree — an amount
  8. rule — government
  9. kid — to tease
  10. rule — a law
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. kid — child
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. rule — to rule out
  16. mine — for digging
  17. press — newspapers
  18. 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