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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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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: kid · degree · press · pit · bay · spring · tube · snap

  1. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  2. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  3. Did you ________________ the button?
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  9. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. I'll be taking the ________________.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. My mare is ________________ in color.
  15. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  20. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a fruit stone
  2. bay — a part of the sea
  3. press — to push
  4. degree — an amount
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. pit — a hole
  7. spring — of water
  8. pit — in a race
  9. snap — to snap out of it
  10. degree — temperature
  11. degree — from a university
  12. tube — the underground
  13. spring — the season
  14. bay — a horse colour
  15. press — a publisher
  16. kid — child
  17. snap — to click
  18. kid — to tease
  19. tube — in a tire
  20. tube — a container
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. press — newspapers
  23. spring — a coil
  24. bay — to keep at bay

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