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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. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  14. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  15. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  16. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  22. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. bowl — to roll
  3. chest — of your body
  4. chest — a box
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. current — electric
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. row — to paddle
  9. row — a line
  10. current — of water
  11. file — a document
  12. file — a line of people
  13. current — happening now
  14. foot — a measure
  15. foot — part of the body
  16. bowl — a football final
  17. spring — of water
  18. file — a tool
  19. content — the amount
  20. spring — a coil
  21. foot — the bottom
  22. content — happy
  23. spring — the season
  24. chest — of your body

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