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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  2. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  5. David sat on the ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. He works in a ________________ mill.
  11. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. She's very handy with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a line of people
  2. swing — music
  3. chest — of your body
  4. file — a document
  5. swing — to play on
  6. cold — not warm
  7. file — a tool
  8. chest — a box
  9. cold — an illness
  10. saw — the tool
  11. swing — in golf
  12. capital — money
  13. capital — a city
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. saw — past of 'see'
  17. chest — of your body
  18. saw — the tool

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