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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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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: ball · cell · press · rest · degree · mouse · pit · bat

  1. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  5. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  10. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  11. Did you ________________ the button?
  12. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  16. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  17. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  18. The King held a masked ________________.
  19. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  20. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  21. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a fruit stone
  2. degree — from a university
  3. degree — an amount
  4. ball — a great time
  5. rest — a break
  6. cell — a phone
  7. press — a publisher
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. mouse — for a computer
  10. rest — what's left
  11. press — to push
  12. mouse — the animal
  13. cell — in biology
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. pit — a hole
  16. pit — in a race
  17. mouse — the animal
  18. ball — a dance
  19. rest — what's left
  20. press — newspapers
  21. ball — a round shape
  22. degree — temperature
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. bat — the animal

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