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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. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  5. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  6. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  12. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  13. The ________________ took off on time.
  14. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  19. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  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. chest — of your body
  2. file — a document
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. fan — to cool the air
  5. plane — a tool
  6. plane — in geometry
  7. content — the amount
  8. cold — an illness
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. chest — of your body
  11. row — to paddle
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. plane — an aircraft
  14. fan — a supporter
  15. file — a tool
  16. row — a line
  17. cold — not warm
  18. track — a song
  19. track — to keep track
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. content — happy
  22. chest — a box
  23. track — a path
  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