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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: board · staff · mate · spring · roll · cold · press · land

  1. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  7. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  8. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  11. Did you ________________ the button?
  12. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  13. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  16. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  17. Have you found your soul ________________?
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. We're on a ________________ here.
  24. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. cold — not warm
  3. roll — a list
  4. spring — the season
  5. spring — of water
  6. staff — employees
  7. board — a flat piece
  8. board — a committee
  9. land — ground
  10. press — a publisher
  11. press — to push
  12. roll — a cake
  13. board — to get on
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. staff — a stick
  16. mate — a friend
  17. mate — a partner
  18. land — a country
  19. spring — a coil
  20. cold — an illness
  21. press — newspapers
  22. land — to come down
  23. roll — on a roll
  24. mate — to breed

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