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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 120 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 · clip · lean · hand · pitcher · bear · press · degree

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  4. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  5. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  6. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  12. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  13. Did you ________________ the button?
  14. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  15. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  16. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  17. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  18. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. He is an ace ________________.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. David sat on the ________________.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. degree — from a university
  3. lean — to rest against
  4. bear — the animal
  5. bear — the animal
  6. press — a publisher
  7. clip — for paper
  8. lean — thin
  9. degree — temperature
  10. hand — in cards
  11. lean — to bend
  12. swing — in golf
  13. press — to push
  14. swing — music
  15. press — newspapers
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. bear — to put up with
  19. clip — to cut
  20. pitcher — in baseball
  21. degree — an amount
  22. swing — to play on
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. clip — a video

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