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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: ball · cell · bat · press · degree · bear · wave · cold

  1. He was locked up in a ________________.
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  5. Did you ________________ the button?
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  8. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  9. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  15. The King held a masked ________________.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  24. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in a prison
  2. cell — a phone
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. bear — to put up with
  5. press — to push
  6. cold — not warm
  7. ball — a great time
  8. wave — a sudden rise
  9. wave — of the sea
  10. degree — from a university
  11. bear — the animal
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. degree — an amount
  14. ball — a round shape
  15. ball — a dance
  16. cell — in biology
  17. bat — the animal
  18. degree — temperature
  19. press — newspapers
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. bear — the animal
  22. cold — an illness
  23. press — a publisher
  24. wave — with your hand

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