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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: press · cap · kick · spring · last · net · dip · fork

  1. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  2. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  3. Did you ________________ the button?
  4. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  5. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  8. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  11. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  14. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  15. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  16. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  17. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  18. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  19. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  23. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. press — a publisher
  2. kick — a thrill
  3. press — to push
  4. fork — a garden tool
  5. net — in sport
  6. last — final
  7. press — newspapers
  8. dip — to dunk
  9. spring — a coil
  10. kick — with a leg
  11. net — after costs
  12. last — to go on
  13. kick — in football
  14. net — for catching
  15. fork — to eat with
  16. dip — a sauce
  17. dip — to sink
  18. cap — a hat
  19. fork — in a road
  20. last — finally
  21. spring — of water
  22. cap — a lid
  23. cap — of ice
  24. spring — the season

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