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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: squash · press · net · land · ruler · spring · cold · wake

  1. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  8. Did you ________________ the button?
  9. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  12. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  13. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  14. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  19. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. net — for catching
  3. land — a country
  4. spring — of water
  5. squash — the sport
  6. net — in sport
  7. press — a publisher
  8. press — to push
  9. squash — to crush
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. press — newspapers
  12. wake — to stop sleeping
  13. ruler — a monarch
  14. squash — the vegetable
  15. spring — the season
  16. ruler — for measuring
  17. spring — a coil
  18. wake — a trail
  19. net — after costs
  20. land — to come down
  21. cold — an illness
  22. wake — before a funeral
  23. cold — not warm
  24. ruler — for measuring

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