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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: cold · pass · pound · press · rule · spring · track · club

  1. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  2. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  3. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  4. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  5. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  6. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Did you ________________ the button?
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  12. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  13. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  14. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  15. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  21. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  22. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  23. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  24. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.

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

Answer key

  1. press — a publisher
  2. track — a path
  3. pound — to hit hard
  4. rule — government
  5. club — for dancing
  6. pass — to succeed
  7. cold — an illness
  8. press — to push
  9. spring — of water
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. pound — a weight
  12. track — a song
  13. rule — a law
  14. track — to keep track
  15. press — newspapers
  16. spring — a coil
  17. spring — the season
  18. club — for golf
  19. cold — not warm
  20. pass — to spend time
  21. pass — a permit
  22. rule — to rule out
  23. pound — for dogs
  24. club — a group

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