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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: squash · tear · snap · wound · dip · degree · press · kick

  1. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  4. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  11. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  12. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  13. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  14. Did you ________________ the button?
  15. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  20. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  24. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to snap out of it
  2. tear — from crying
  3. kick — a thrill
  4. press — a publisher
  5. tear — to rip
  6. degree — an amount
  7. squash — to crush
  8. degree — temperature
  9. tear — from crying
  10. squash — the vegetable
  11. dip — a sauce
  12. kick — with a leg
  13. dip — to dunk
  14. press — to push
  15. dip — to sink
  16. wound — an injury
  17. snap — to click
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. squash — the sport
  20. snap — to speak sharply
  21. wound — an injury
  22. degree — from a university
  23. press — newspapers
  24. kick — in football

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