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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. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  4. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  5. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. David sat on the ________________.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  13. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  14. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  15. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  16. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  22. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. There's a computer ________________ on the table.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. vault — in gymnastics
  4. vault — a safe
  5. chip — to eat
  6. content — happy
  7. file — a line of people
  8. swing — to play on
  9. bat — the animal
  10. content — the amount
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. swing — music
  13. fork — to eat with
  14. swing — in golf
  15. chip — for betting
  16. fork — in a road
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. file — a document
  20. capital — a city
  21. vault — an arched ceiling
  22. fork — a garden tool
  23. file — a tool
  24. chip — in a computer

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