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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: cell · press · bat · season · shower · club · cold · degree

  1. Did you ________________ the button?
  2. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  9. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  17. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  18. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  19. Did you ________________ the meat?
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. press — to push
  2. press — newspapers
  3. degree — from a university
  4. cell — in biology
  5. cold — an illness
  6. degree — temperature
  7. degree — an amount
  8. club — for dancing
  9. season — of the year
  10. cold — not warm
  11. press — a publisher
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. cell — a phone
  16. club — a group
  17. season — in sport
  18. club — for golf
  19. season — to add flavour
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. shower — to wash
  23. shower — rain
  24. bat — the animal

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