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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 120 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 · fork · bank · pitch · snap · cold · press · rush

  1. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  2. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  9. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  10. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  11. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  12. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  13. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  14. Did you ________________ the button?
  15. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  16. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  17. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  21. That must've been a ________________.
  22. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — a garden tool
  2. pitch — a sales talk
  3. snap — to click
  4. cold — an illness
  5. degree — an amount
  6. pitch — a sports field
  7. degree — from a university
  8. bank — for money
  9. press — a publisher
  10. press — newspapers
  11. rush — to hurry
  12. fork — in a road
  13. pitch — completely
  14. press — to push
  15. snap — to speak sharply
  16. fork — to eat with
  17. rush — hurry
  18. degree — temperature
  19. cold — not warm
  20. snap — to snap out of it
  21. rush — a thrill
  22. bank — of a river
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. bank — for money

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