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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: cold · stick · court · swing · pitcher · press · degree · vault

  1. Did you ________________ the button?
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. He is an ace ________________.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  9. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  12. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  13. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  14. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  15. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. David sat on the ________________.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  22. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  23. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. press — to push
  2. court — of a king
  3. press — a publisher
  4. cold — not warm
  5. court — for sport
  6. pitcher — in baseball
  7. degree — an amount
  8. stick — to attach or keep to
  9. stick — a piece of wood
  10. court — of law
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. stick — a piece of wood
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. vault — in gymnastics
  15. swing — music
  16. cold — an illness
  17. vault — a safe
  18. degree — from a university
  19. swing — to play on
  20. degree — temperature
  21. vault — an arched ceiling
  22. press — newspapers
  23. swing — in golf
  24. cold — the Cold War

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