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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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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 · perch · hand · race · swing · pass · snap

  1. Did you ________________ the button?
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  7. David sat on the ________________.
  8. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  9. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  10. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  11. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  12. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  13. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  14. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  17. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  18. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  19. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  24. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.

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

Answer key

  1. press — to push
  2. hand — help
  3. pitch — a sales talk
  4. race — humankind
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. pass — to succeed
  7. swing — to play on
  8. pass — a permit
  9. snap — to click
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. pass — to spend time
  12. pitch — completely
  13. snap — to speak sharply
  14. swing — in golf
  15. race — the arms race
  16. pitch — a sports field
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. press — newspapers
  19. swing — music
  20. race — a contest
  21. snap — to snap out of it
  22. hand — in cards
  23. press — a publisher
  24. perch — the fish

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