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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: current · spring · drill · straw · land · band · press · bat

  1. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. Did you ________________ the button?
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. press — a publisher
  2. land — ground
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. spring — a coil
  5. drill — a practice
  6. band — a ring
  7. current — electric
  8. spring — of water
  9. bat — the animal
  10. land — a country
  11. press — to push
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. band — a music group
  14. current — happening now
  15. spring — the season
  16. current — of water
  17. drill — the tool
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. drill — army training
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. press — newspapers
  22. land — to come down
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. band — a rubber band

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