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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. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  4. David sat on the ________________.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  10. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  15. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  16. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  21. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  24. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. content — the amount
  3. perch — the fish
  4. swing — to play on
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. scale — size or range
  7. chest — of your body
  8. file — a tool
  9. bore — to tire
  10. swing — music
  11. mine — for digging
  12. chest — of your body
  13. chest — a box
  14. bore — to drill
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. swing — in golf
  18. file — a document
  19. file — a line of people
  20. content — happy
  21. scale — for weighing
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. bore — gave birth
  24. scale — in 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