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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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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: land · mine · tube · foot · ball · degree · press · cold

  1. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. Did you ________________ the button?
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. I'll be taking the ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  15. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  16. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  17. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  20. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  21. The King held a masked ________________.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a round shape
  2. mine — for digging
  3. land — to come down
  4. press — to push
  5. degree — an amount
  6. tube — the underground
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. cold — an illness
  9. land — ground
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. degree — temperature
  12. ball — a great time
  13. degree — from a university
  14. tube — a container
  15. press — a publisher
  16. foot — a measure
  17. foot — part of the body
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. press — newspapers
  20. tube — in a tire
  21. ball — a dance
  22. cold — not warm
  23. foot — the bottom
  24. land — a country

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