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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: face · degree · bat · mine · spring · press · march · root

  1. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. Did you ________________ the button?
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  17. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. press — to push
  3. march — the month
  4. face — to confront
  5. march — the month
  6. degree — an amount
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. press — a publisher
  9. spring — a coil
  10. degree — temperature
  11. bat — the animal
  12. spring — of water
  13. root — of a plant
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. spring — the season
  16. root — the cause
  17. root — of a word
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. face — to point toward
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. degree — from a university
  22. face — part of the head
  23. march — music
  24. press — newspapers

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