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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: swing · leaves · bat · patient · press · chest · pitcher · net

  1. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  2. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  5. Did you ________________ the button?
  6. David sat on the ________________.
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  13. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  14. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  15. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  19. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  20. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. He is an ace ________________.
  24. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.

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

Answer key

  1. press — a publisher
  2. patient — calm and waiting
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. leaves — to go away
  5. press — to push
  6. swing — to play on
  7. net — for catching
  8. leaves — lets stay
  9. net — in sport
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. swing — music
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. press — newspapers
  15. leaves — of a tree
  16. chest — of your body
  17. chest — of your body
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. net — after costs
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. bat — the animal
  22. chest — a box
  23. pitcher — in baseball
  24. swing — in golf

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