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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: bound · cell · spring · capital · degree · press

  1. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. That was ________________ to happen.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  10. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  11. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. Did you ________________ the button?

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. press — a publisher
  3. capital — money
  4. spring — a coil
  5. bound — certain
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. bound — tied together
  8. degree — from a university
  9. press — newspapers
  10. bound — obliged
  11. cell — in biology
  12. degree — an amount
  13. cell — a phone
  14. capital — a city
  15. spring — the season
  16. spring — of water
  17. cell — in a prison
  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