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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: game · press · cold · bass · row · lie · spring · swing

  1. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  3. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  4. Did you ________________ the button?
  5. David sat on the ________________.
  6. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  7. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  24. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. lie — an untruth
  3. press — a publisher
  4. press — to push
  5. swing — to play on
  6. press — newspapers
  7. lie — to recline
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. game — wild animals
  10. game — a match
  11. bass — the instrument
  12. spring — a coil
  13. row — to paddle
  14. spring — of water
  15. bass — the fish
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. row — a line
  18. cold — not warm
  19. swing — music
  20. cold — an illness
  21. swing — in golf
  22. spring — the season
  23. lie — an untruth
  24. bass — low music

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