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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: row · season · club · press · race · swing

  1. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  2. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  3. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  4. Did you ________________ the button?
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  8. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  9. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  12. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  13. Did you ________________ the meat?
  14. David sat on the ________________.
  15. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. 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. season — of the year
  2. club — for golf
  3. season — in sport
  4. press — to push
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. row — a line
  7. press — a publisher
  8. row — to paddle
  9. swing — music
  10. race — the arms race
  11. race — a contest
  12. club — a group
  13. season — to add flavour
  14. swing — to play on
  15. club — for dancing
  16. race — humankind
  17. swing — in golf
  18. 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