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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  7. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  8. Have you found your soul ________________?
  9. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  12. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  13. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  14. Where did you ________________ them?
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. David sat on the ________________.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  22. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. swing — music
  4. content — the amount
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. mug — a face
  7. mate — to breed
  8. mate — a partner
  9. swing — in golf
  10. file — a line of people
  11. mate — a friend
  12. pound — to hit hard
  13. pound — a weight
  14. mug — to rob
  15. cold — an illness
  16. content — happy
  17. swing — to play on
  18. file — a tool
  19. kid — child
  20. cold — not warm
  21. pound — for dogs
  22. mug — a cup
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. file — a document

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