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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. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  2. David sat on the ________________.
  3. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. She's very handy with a ________________.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  16. He works in a ________________ mill.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  21. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  22. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  23. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. content — videos and posts
  2. swing — to play on
  3. swing — music
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. saw — the tool
  6. degree — from a university
  7. degree — temperature
  8. content — happy
  9. tear — from crying
  10. object — to protest
  11. degree — an amount
  12. object — a thing
  13. mine — for digging
  14. tear — to rip
  15. saw — past of 'see'
  16. saw — the tool
  17. content — the amount
  18. current — happening now
  19. tear — from crying
  20. object — an aim
  21. current — of water
  22. current — electric
  23. swing — in golf
  24. mine — belonging to me

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