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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: press · drill · spring · hand · face · staff · pound · sharp

  1. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  5. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  6. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  7. Did you ________________ the button?
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  14. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  17. It's one o'clock ________________.
  18. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  21. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  22. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  23. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  24. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. press — a publisher
  3. spring — a coil
  4. staff — a stick
  5. press — newspapers
  6. drill — the tool
  7. press — to push
  8. spring — the season
  9. staff — employees
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. pound — for dogs
  12. hand — help
  13. pound — a weight
  14. pound — to hit hard
  15. drill — army training
  16. drill — a practice
  17. sharp — exactly
  18. face — to confront
  19. hand — in cards
  20. sharp — with an edge
  21. face — part of the head
  22. sharp — clever
  23. staff — employees
  24. face — to point toward

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