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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: hide · wave · cold · degree · stick · stem · shower · press

  1. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  4. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. Did you ________________ the button?
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  12. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  13. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  14. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  15. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  16. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  19. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  20. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  21. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. press — a publisher
  2. degree — an amount
  3. stick — a piece of wood
  4. hide — animal skin
  5. degree — temperature
  6. degree — from a university
  7. press — to push
  8. shower — to wash
  9. cold — an illness
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. wave — a sudden rise
  12. hide — to keep secret
  13. stem — to come from
  14. stick — a piece of wood
  15. wave — of the sea
  16. stick — to attach or keep to
  17. cold — not warm
  18. stem — of a plant
  19. hide — to keep secret
  20. stem — a stem cell
  21. press — newspapers
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. wave — with your hand
  24. shower — rain

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