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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. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  11. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  15. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  16. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  19. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  24. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a line
  2. spring — the season
  3. swing — to play on
  4. content — the amount
  5. spring — of water
  6. pit — a fruit stone
  7. content — happy
  8. pit — a hole
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. present — a gift
  11. cell — in biology
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. spring — a coil
  14. swing — in golf
  15. present — there
  16. stick — a piece of wood
  17. cell — a phone
  18. stick — a piece of wood
  19. present — the time now
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. swing — music
  22. row — to paddle
  23. pit — in a race
  24. stick — to attach or keep to

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