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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: bass · snap · cell · cold · season · press · spring · spell

  1. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  3. He was locked up in a ________________.
  4. Did you ________________ the meat?
  5. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  6. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  7. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Did you ________________ the button?
  12. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  13. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  14. How do you ________________ your surname?
  15. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  16. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  24. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. press — a publisher
  3. cell — in a prison
  4. season — to add flavour
  5. bass — the fish
  6. bass — the instrument
  7. spell — a short time
  8. spring — the season
  9. cold — not warm
  10. cold — an illness
  11. press — to push
  12. snap — to click
  13. snap — to speak sharply
  14. spell — letters
  15. season — in sport
  16. bass — low music
  17. cell — in biology
  18. cell — a phone
  19. spring — a coil
  20. spell — magic
  21. press — newspapers
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. season — of the year
  24. snap — to snap out of it

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