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

Word bank: degree · cell · straw · row · file · press

  1. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  2. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. Did you ________________ the button?

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

Answer key

  1. press — a publisher
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. row — to paddle
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. file — a document
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. cell — in biology
  9. degree — from a university
  10. row — a line
  11. file — a tool
  12. press — newspapers
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. file — a line of people
  15. cell — a phone
  16. degree — temperature
  17. degree — an amount
  18. press — to push

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