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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: press · mine · march · content · degree · swing · band · racket

  1. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  9. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  12. Did you ________________ the button?
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  22. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  23. David sat on the ________________.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a rubber band
  2. band — a music group
  3. march — the month
  4. degree — temperature
  5. press — a publisher
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. content — happy
  8. swing — music
  9. racket — for tennis
  10. band — a ring
  11. press — newspapers
  12. press — to push
  13. content — the amount
  14. degree — an amount
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. degree — from a university
  17. swing — in golf
  18. mine — for digging
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. march — music
  21. racket — a loud noise
  22. racket — for tennis
  23. swing — to play on
  24. march — the month

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