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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: spring · bowl · drill · straw · press · chest · row · degree

  1. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  9. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  10. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. Did you ________________ the button?
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. bowl — to roll
  3. chest — of your body
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. drill — a practice
  6. spring — of water
  7. chest — a box
  8. drill — army training
  9. bowl — a football final
  10. row — a line
  11. spring — the season
  12. press — newspapers
  13. spring — a coil
  14. bowl — a dish
  15. drill — the tool
  16. degree — from a university
  17. degree — temperature
  18. row — to paddle
  19. press — to push
  20. chest — of your body
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. degree — an amount
  24. press — a publisher

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