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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: press · pitch · swing · wave · race · trunk · branch · mark

  1. Did you ________________ the button?
  2. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  5. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  6. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  7. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  8. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  9. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  10. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  11. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  12. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  15. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  18. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  21. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  22. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  23. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  24. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.

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

Answer key

  1. press — to push
  2. mark — a trace
  3. swing — to play on
  4. mark — to pay attention
  5. pitch — a sports field
  6. wave — with your hand
  7. pitch — a sales talk
  8. trunk — of an elephant
  9. pitch — completely
  10. swing — in golf
  11. branch — of a tree
  12. branch — of a bank
  13. race — a contest
  14. swing — music
  15. trunk — of a car
  16. race — the arms race
  17. wave — of the sea
  18. press — newspapers
  19. race — humankind
  20. wave — a sudden rise
  21. branch — a division
  22. mark — a grade
  23. press — a publisher
  24. trunk — of a tree

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