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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 · press · fork · branch · capital · ruler · pass · swing

  1. Did you ________________ the button?
  2. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  3. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  6. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  7. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  12. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  13. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  14. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  15. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  16. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  17. David sat on the ________________.
  18. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  23. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  24. 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. press — to push
  2. ruler — for measuring
  3. fork — to eat with
  4. cold — an illness
  5. pass — to succeed
  6. fork — a garden tool
  7. ruler — for measuring
  8. swing — in golf
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. press — a publisher
  12. pass — a permit
  13. fork — in a road
  14. branch — of a tree
  15. swing — music
  16. branch — of a bank
  17. swing — to play on
  18. branch — a division
  19. cold — not warm
  20. capital — money
  21. capital — a city
  22. pass — to spend time
  23. ruler — a monarch
  24. 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