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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 116 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. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  4. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  5. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  6. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  12. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  13. David sat on the ________________.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  23. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  24. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — animal skin
  2. file — a tool
  3. swing — music
  4. stem — a stem cell
  5. stem — to come from
  6. hide — to keep secret
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. content — happy
  9. hand — help
  10. file — a line of people
  11. fan — to cool the air
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. swing — to play on
  14. file — a document
  15. degree — an amount
  16. degree — from a university
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. content — the amount
  19. hide — to keep secret
  20. hand — in cards
  21. degree — temperature
  22. fan — a supporter
  23. stem — of a plant
  24. swing — in golf

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