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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 · band · press · kid · march · tear

  1. Did you ________________ the button?
  2. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  3. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  11. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  15. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. press — to push
  2. band — a rubber band
  3. press — a publisher
  4. kid — to tease
  5. bass — the instrument
  6. tear — from crying
  7. march — the month
  8. tear — to rip
  9. band — a ring
  10. band — a music group
  11. bass — the fish
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. kid — child
  14. bass — low music
  15. press — newspapers
  16. march — the month
  17. tear — from crying
  18. march — music

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