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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 116 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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: squash · stock · cold · pop · rest · degree · content · press

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  3. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. You don't need to ________________ round.
  6. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. We're almost out of ________________.
  9. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  10. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  11. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  12. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. Did you ________________ the button?
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  18. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  19. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. The ________________ market has crashed.
  22. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  23. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. rest — what's left
  3. pop — music
  4. cold — an illness
  5. pop — to visit
  6. stock — goods
  7. degree — temperature
  8. pop — soda
  9. rest — a break
  10. press — a publisher
  11. squash — the sport
  12. squash — the vegetable
  13. content — the amount
  14. press — to push
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. degree — from a university
  17. stock — a soup base
  18. rest — what's left
  19. press — newspapers
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. stock — shares
  22. content — happy
  23. squash — to crush
  24. degree — an amount

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