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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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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: season · press · trunk · clip · tube · degree · march · coach

  1. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. Did you ________________ the meat?
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  10. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  11. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  14. Did you ________________ the button?
  15. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  18. Have you met the new head ________________?
  19. I'll be taking the ________________.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  23. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  24. I've got the luggage in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. press — a publisher
  2. clip — to cut
  3. degree — temperature
  4. coach — a trainer
  5. march — the month
  6. clip — a video
  7. season — to add flavour
  8. march — music
  9. tube — a container
  10. coach — pulled by horses
  11. tube — in a tire
  12. clip — for paper
  13. trunk — of an elephant
  14. press — to push
  15. trunk — of a tree
  16. degree — from a university
  17. press — newspapers
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. tube — the underground
  20. march — the month
  21. degree — an amount
  22. season — of the year
  23. season — in sport
  24. trunk — of a car

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