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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: march · content · press · shower · snap · degree

  1. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  2. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. Did you ________________ the button?
  10. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. press — a publisher
  2. snap — to snap out of it
  3. degree — temperature
  4. press — newspapers
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. march — the month
  7. degree — an amount
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. press — to push
  10. snap — to click
  11. degree — from a university
  12. shower — to wash
  13. content — the amount
  14. march — the month
  15. content — happy
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. march — music
  18. shower — rain

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