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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: land · swing · branch · cold · press · date · clip · court

  1. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  2. Did you ________________ the button?
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Have you settled on a ________________?
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  7. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  12. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  17. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. The ball is in your ________________.
  23. David sat on the ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — in golf
  2. press — to push
  3. cold — an illness
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. court — of law
  6. date — the fruit
  7. branch — of a tree
  8. court — of a king
  9. clip — for paper
  10. clip — to cut
  11. branch — of a bank
  12. press — newspapers
  13. clip — a video
  14. branch — a division
  15. land — ground
  16. date — on the calendar
  17. press — a publisher
  18. cold — not warm
  19. land — a country
  20. swing — music
  21. land — to come down
  22. court — for sport
  23. swing — to play on
  24. cold — the Cold War

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