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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: bat · press · race · foot · coach · mine · swing · march

  1. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. Did you ________________ the button?
  7. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. David sat on the ________________.
  10. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  11. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  12. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  13. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  20. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  21. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. Have you met the new head ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. press — a publisher
  2. mine — for digging
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. press — to push
  7. foot — the bottom
  8. bat — the animal
  9. swing — to play on
  10. race — a contest
  11. press — newspapers
  12. swing — in golf
  13. foot — a measure
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. march — the month
  16. march — music
  17. race — humankind
  18. march — the month
  19. coach — a trainer
  20. coach — pulled by horses
  21. foot — part of the body
  22. swing — music
  23. race — the arms race
  24. coach — a trainer

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