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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.

Make a worksheet

Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

Words on the sheet
468
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: press · staff · degree · spell · cell · mine

  1. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  8. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  9. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  10. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  11. Did you ________________ the button?
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. spell — letters
  4. degree — an amount
  5. press — a publisher
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. spell — magic
  8. staff — employees
  9. staff — employees
  10. spell — a short time
  11. press — to push
  12. degree — temperature
  13. staff — a stick
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. cell — in biology
  16. degree — from a university
  17. press — newspapers
  18. mine — for digging

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