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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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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: bass · press · game · bat · last · spring · sharp · kid

  1. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. Did you ________________ the button?
  3. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  15. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  16. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  19. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. It's one o'clock ________________.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. press — to push
  3. press — a publisher
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. spring — of water
  6. spring — the season
  7. last — final
  8. kid — to tease
  9. game — wild animals
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. bass — low music
  12. last — to go on
  13. game — a match
  14. bass — the fish
  15. press — newspapers
  16. last — finally
  17. kid — child
  18. bass — the instrument
  19. sharp — clever
  20. spring — a coil
  21. bat — the animal
  22. sharp — exactly
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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