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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 116 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. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  5. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  10. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  11. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  12. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  16. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  17. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. David sat on the ________________.
  21. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  22. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. content — happy
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. craft — boats
  5. stem — of a plant
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. craft — a skill
  8. file — a line of people
  9. craft — a handicraft
  10. present — a gift
  11. stem — to come from
  12. staff — a stick
  13. cold — an illness
  14. cold — not warm
  15. stem — a stem cell
  16. swing — music
  17. present — the time now
  18. content — the amount
  19. file — a document
  20. swing — to play on
  21. staff — employees
  22. swing — in golf
  23. file — a tool
  24. present — there

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