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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. David sat on the ________________.
  2. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  6. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  7. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  10. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  11. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. This piece is in a major ________________.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  18. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  21. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. squash — the sport
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. field — farmland
  5. bank — for money
  6. bank — of a river
  7. bank — for money
  8. field — for sport
  9. squash — to crush
  10. key — the most important part
  11. swing — in golf
  12. field — a subject
  13. key — for a lock
  14. row — a line
  15. key — in music
  16. row — to paddle
  17. squash — the vegetable
  18. chair — a professorship
  19. file — a line of people
  20. swing — music
  21. chair — a leader
  22. file — a tool
  23. chair — to sit on
  24. file — a document

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