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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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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: fork · fall · content · ruler · press · degree · staff · straw

  1. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  2. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  9. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  10. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  13. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  14. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  15. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. Did you ________________ the button?
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  24. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. fork — to eat with
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. press — a publisher
  5. content — happy
  6. staff — a stick
  7. degree — an amount
  8. fork — a garden tool
  9. ruler — a monarch
  10. fall — to drop
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. fall — to drop
  13. staff — employees
  14. fall — the season
  15. press — newspapers
  16. degree — temperature
  17. degree — from a university
  18. fork — in a road
  19. content — the amount
  20. press — to push
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. ruler — for measuring
  24. ruler — for measuring

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