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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: drill · bat · lean · capital · swing · straw · row · press

  1. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  2. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  3. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  4. Did you ________________ the button?
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  7. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  8. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  12. David sat on the ________________.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  15. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to bend
  2. swing — in golf
  3. swing — music
  4. press — to push
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. lean — thin
  7. drill — a practice
  8. drill — army training
  9. bat — the animal
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. lean — to rest against
  12. swing — to play on
  13. capital — a city
  14. press — a publisher
  15. press — newspapers
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. row — a quarrel
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. row — a line
  20. drill — the tool
  21. row — to paddle
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. capital — money

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