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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 120 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: squash · mine · spring · wound · press · net · degree · lean

  1. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  8. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  17. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  18. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  19. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  20. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. Did you ________________ the button?
  24. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. lean — to bend
  3. spring — the season
  4. squash — the vegetable
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. wound — an injury
  7. net — after costs
  8. squash — the sport
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. squash — to crush
  11. degree — temperature
  12. wound — an injury
  13. spring — a coil
  14. spring — of water
  15. degree — an amount
  16. press — a publisher
  17. net — for catching
  18. lean — to rest against
  19. lean — thin
  20. press — newspapers
  21. degree — from a university
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. press — to push
  24. net — in sport

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