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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: season · bat · cell · press · wax · spring · capital · ball

  1. Did you ________________ the button?
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  5. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  6. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  7. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. The King held a masked ________________.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  24. Did you ________________ the meat?

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

Answer key

  1. press — to push
  2. spring — the season
  3. spring — of water
  4. season — of the year
  5. wax — for sculpting
  6. press — a publisher
  7. press — newspapers
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. wax — in the ear
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. spring — a coil
  12. ball — a dance
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. capital — money
  15. ball — a round shape
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. capital — a city
  18. wax — to grow
  19. bat — the animal
  20. season — in sport
  21. cell — a phone
  22. cell — in biology
  23. ball — a great time
  24. season — to add flavour

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