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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: snap · press · degree · capital · jam · spring · game · current

  1. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  6. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  9. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  13. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  14. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. Did you ________________ the button?
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  24. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. degree — from a university
  3. jam — in traffic
  4. capital — a city
  5. press — newspapers
  6. jam — to spread on bread
  7. degree — an amount
  8. snap — to click
  9. jam — a tight spot
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. snap — to speak sharply
  13. current — of water
  14. current — electric
  15. spring — the season
  16. degree — temperature
  17. capital — money
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. spring — of water
  20. game — a match
  21. press — to push
  22. game — wild animals
  23. current — happening now
  24. press — a publisher

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