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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  5. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  6. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. Have you settled on a ________________?
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  12. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  15. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  16. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  17. David sat on the ________________.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. hand — in cards
  3. hand — help
  4. dip — to dunk
  5. date — the fruit
  6. dip — to sink
  7. file — a line of people
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. file — a document
  11. chip — for betting
  12. chip — in a computer
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. chip — to eat
  15. swing — music
  16. dip — a sauce
  17. swing — to play on
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. file — a tool
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. swing — in golf
  23. content — the amount
  24. straw — dry grass

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