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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: chest · drill · spring · rush · press · roll · degree · game

  1. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  9. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  13. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  17. We're on a ________________ here.
  18. That must've been a ________________.
  19. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  20. Did you ________________ the button?
  21. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — a box
  2. spring — the season
  3. degree — temperature
  4. spring — of water
  5. degree — an amount
  6. press — a publisher
  7. chest — of your body
  8. drill — the tool
  9. roll — a cake
  10. degree — from a university
  11. game — a match
  12. drill — army training
  13. roll — a list
  14. chest — of your body
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. rush — hurry
  17. roll — on a roll
  18. rush — a thrill
  19. rush — to hurry
  20. press — to push
  21. drill — a practice
  22. spring — a coil
  23. game — wild animals
  24. press — newspapers

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