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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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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. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  2. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  11. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  17. David sat on the ________________.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  21. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. Have you met the new head ________________?
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — videos and posts
  2. swing — in golf
  3. cell — a phone
  4. coach — pulled by horses
  5. content — happy
  6. prune — to trim
  7. prune — to trim
  8. march — music
  9. net — in sport
  10. net — for catching
  11. net — after costs
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. march — the month
  14. file — a document
  15. file — a tool
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. swing — to play on
  18. content — the amount
  19. file — a line of people
  20. prune — the fruit
  21. swing — music
  22. cell — in biology
  23. coach — a trainer
  24. march — the month

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