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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: press · ball · snap · net · degree · sharp · tube · trunk

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  3. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  4. Did you ________________ the button?
  5. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  6. I'll be taking the ________________.
  7. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  8. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  11. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  14. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. It's one o'clock ________________.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  20. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  21. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  22. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  23. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  24. The King held a masked ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. trunk — of a car
  3. ball — a great time
  4. press — to push
  5. tube — a container
  6. tube — the underground
  7. snap — to snap out of it
  8. sharp — with an edge
  9. degree — temperature
  10. net — after costs
  11. trunk — of an elephant
  12. net — in sport
  13. trunk — of a tree
  14. snap — to click
  15. net — for catching
  16. degree — an amount
  17. sharp — exactly
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. sharp — clever
  20. ball — a round shape
  21. tube — in a tire
  22. press — a publisher
  23. press — newspapers
  24. ball — a dance

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