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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
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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: content · hand · press · cold · season · degree · staff · pitch

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  4. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  9. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  14. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  15. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  16. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. Did you ________________ the button?
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. pitch — completely
  4. season — in sport
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. pitch — a sports field
  7. cold — an illness
  8. press — a publisher
  9. staff — employees
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. hand — in cards
  12. hand — help
  13. season — of the year
  14. staff — employees
  15. press — newspapers
  16. staff — a stick
  17. content — the amount
  18. degree — temperature
  19. press — to push
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. degree — from a university
  22. pitch — a sales talk
  23. cold — not warm
  24. content — happy

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