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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: hand · press · spring · racket · degree · last · tear · pitch

  1. False peace will not ________________.
  2. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. Did you ________________ the button?
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  13. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  18. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  19. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. racket — a loud noise
  3. degree — temperature
  4. tear — from crying
  5. hand — in cards
  6. last — finally
  7. spring — of water
  8. last — final
  9. degree — from a university
  10. press — to push
  11. hand — help
  12. pitch — a sports field
  13. racket — for tennis
  14. spring — the season
  15. pitch — completely
  16. spring — a coil
  17. racket — for tennis
  18. press — a publisher
  19. pitch — a sales talk
  20. tear — to rip
  21. tear — from crying
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. press — newspapers
  24. degree — an amount

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