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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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  5. Have you met the new head ________________?
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  11. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  15. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  16. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. file — a document
  3. content — happy
  4. mouse — the animal
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. chest — a box
  7. stem — to come from
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. chest — of your body
  10. coach — pulled by horses
  11. mouse — for a computer
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. mouse — the animal
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. stem — a stem cell
  17. file — a tool
  18. content — the amount
  19. march — the month
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. stem — of a plant
  22. march — music
  23. chest — of your body
  24. file — a line of people

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