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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. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  2. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  3. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  6. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  10. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  11. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  12. David sat on the ________________.
  13. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  24. The ________________ went through the wall.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — music
  2. pitch — completely
  3. wax — for sculpting
  4. cold — not warm
  5. pitch — a sports field
  6. face — to point toward
  7. content — happy
  8. content — the amount
  9. nail — on a finger
  10. swing — in golf
  11. face — part of the head
  12. swing — to play on
  13. face — to confront
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. wax — in the ear
  16. wound — an injury
  17. cold — an illness
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. wax — to grow
  20. wound — an injury
  21. nail — for a hammer
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. pitch — a sales talk
  24. nail — for a hammer

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