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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: club · wax · cold · row · press · swing · stock · march

  1. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. Did you ________________ the button?
  6. David sat on the ________________.
  7. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  8. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  9. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  10. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  11. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  12. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  19. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  20. The ________________ market has crashed.
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  23. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  24. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. wax — for sculpting
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. march — the month
  4. row — a line
  5. press — to push
  6. swing — to play on
  7. stock — a soup base
  8. row — to paddle
  9. swing — music
  10. club — for dancing
  11. stock — goods
  12. swing — in golf
  13. cold — not warm
  14. cold — an illness
  15. march — music
  16. club — for golf
  17. march — the month
  18. press — a publisher
  19. press — newspapers
  20. stock — shares
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. club — a group
  23. wax — to grow
  24. wax — in the ear

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