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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: swing · press · club · kid · present · clip · date · key

  1. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  4. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  7. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  11. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  12. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  15. Have you settled on a ________________?
  16. Did you ________________ the button?
  17. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  18. David sat on the ________________.
  19. This piece is in a major ________________.
  20. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  21. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  22. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.

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

Answer key

  1. press — a publisher
  2. clip — a video
  3. club — for dancing
  4. swing — in golf
  5. kid — child
  6. swing — music
  7. club — a group
  8. clip — for paper
  9. clip — to cut
  10. key — the most important part
  11. present — a gift
  12. club — for golf
  13. kid — to tease
  14. press — newspapers
  15. date — on the calendar
  16. press — to push
  17. date — on the calendar
  18. swing — to play on
  19. key — in music
  20. key — for a lock
  21. present — there
  22. date — the fruit
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. present — the time now

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