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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: track · file · content · wound · staff · pitcher · chest · row

  1. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  10. He is an ace ________________.
  11. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  20. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. row — a line
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. staff — employees
  6. chest — of your body
  7. wound — an injury
  8. file — a document
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. pitcher — in baseball
  11. track — to keep track
  12. content — happy
  13. row — to paddle
  14. chest — of your body
  15. file — a line of people
  16. staff — a stick
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. chest — a box
  19. track — a path
  20. track — a song
  21. file — a tool
  22. staff — employees
  23. wound — an injury
  24. content — the amount

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