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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. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  5. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  6. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  7. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. My father caught me by the ________________.
  10. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  11. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. Have you settled on a ________________?
  14. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. David sat on the ________________.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  19. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. wound — past of 'wind'
  2. content — the amount
  3. wound — an injury
  4. swing — in golf
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. lean — thin
  7. swing — music
  8. content — happy
  9. arm — part of the body
  10. date — the fruit
  11. arm — a part of something
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. date — on the calendar
  14. lean — to bend
  15. degree — from a university
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. swing — to play on
  18. straw — a straw man
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. degree — temperature
  22. wound — an injury
  23. lean — to rest against
  24. degree — an amount

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