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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 120 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: march · chest · pass · press · court · swing · tear · bound

  1. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. David sat on the ________________.
  10. Did you ________________ the button?
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  15. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  19. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  23. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  24. That was ________________ to happen.

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

Answer key

  1. pass — a permit
  2. court — for sport
  3. tear — from crying
  4. pass — to succeed
  5. tear — to rip
  6. tear — from crying
  7. court — of a king
  8. chest — a box
  9. swing — to play on
  10. press — to push
  11. court — of law
  12. press — newspapers
  13. chest — of your body
  14. bound — obliged
  15. press — a publisher
  16. march — the month
  17. chest — of your body
  18. bound — tied together
  19. swing — music
  20. march — music
  21. march — the month
  22. swing — in golf
  23. pass — to spend time
  24. bound — certain

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