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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. That was a fun ________________.
  2. Have you met the new head ________________?
  3. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  4. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  5. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  14. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  15. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  16. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  17. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  18. The ________________ market has crashed.
  19. David sat on the ________________.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  22. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. fork — in a road
  4. swing — in golf
  5. fork — a garden tool
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. content — happy
  8. file — a document
  9. track — to keep track
  10. content — the amount
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. game — wild animals
  13. track — a path
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. coach — pulled by horses
  16. stock — goods
  17. track — a song
  18. stock — shares
  19. swing — to play on
  20. file — a line of people
  21. fork — to eat with
  22. stock — a soup base
  23. swing — music
  24. file — a tool

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