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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 had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. Have you met the new head ________________?
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. David sat on the ________________.
  10. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  13. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  14. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  15. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. I'll be taking the ________________.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  22. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  23. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  24. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. row — a line
  4. content — the amount
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. content — happy
  7. tube — in a tire
  8. swing — in golf
  9. swing — to play on
  10. stem — to come from
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. coach — pulled by horses
  13. swing — music
  14. tube — a container
  15. jam — to spread on bread
  16. row — to paddle
  17. capital — money
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. tube — the underground
  20. capital — a city
  21. stem — a stem cell
  22. jam — in traffic
  23. jam — a tight spot
  24. stem — of a plant

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