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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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 · shower · pit · cold · bass · spell · land · calf

  1. Did you ________________ the button?
  2. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  3. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  6. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  7. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  8. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  11. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  12. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  13. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  14. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. How do you ________________ your surname?
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. press — to push
  2. calf — a young animal
  3. bass — the fish
  4. land — a country
  5. press — a publisher
  6. bass — low music
  7. pit — a fruit stone
  8. calf — of the leg
  9. cold — an illness
  10. pit — a hole
  11. press — newspapers
  12. pit — in a race
  13. spell — a short time
  14. bass — the instrument
  15. land — to come down
  16. shower — rain
  17. spell — letters
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. cold — not warm
  21. calf — a young animal
  22. shower — to wash
  23. spell — magic
  24. land — ground

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