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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 · shower · fork · spring · court · season · rock · net

  1. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  8. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  15. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  16. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  17. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  18. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  23. Did you ________________ the button?
  24. He took the fish out of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. rock — to move gently
  3. spring — a coil
  4. season — in sport
  5. shower — to wash
  6. net — after costs
  7. fork — to eat with
  8. fork — in a road
  9. spring — the season
  10. shower — rain
  11. rock — music
  12. spring — of water
  13. court — of law
  14. rock — a stone
  15. court — of a king
  16. fork — a garden tool
  17. season — of the year
  18. press — a publisher
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. net — in sport
  21. court — for sport
  22. press — newspapers
  23. press — to push
  24. net — for catching

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