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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. David sat on the ________________.
  2. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  3. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  14. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  15. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  16. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  23. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. chip — in a computer
  3. content — the amount
  4. spring — the season
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. swing — in golf
  7. file — a document
  8. file — a line of people
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. net — in sport
  11. chip — to eat
  12. file — a tool
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. patient — calm and waiting
  15. net — after costs
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. spring — a coil
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. spring — of water
  21. net — for catching
  22. chip — for betting
  23. content — happy
  24. swing — music

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