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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: bay · mate · spell · straw · tear · content · swing · cabinet

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  3. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. My mare is ________________ in color.
  6. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  7. Have you found your soul ________________?
  8. What do you think of the new ________________?
  9. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  10. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  13. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  14. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  15. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  16. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. David sat on the ________________.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. How do you ________________ your surname?

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. bay — a part of the sea
  3. spell — a short time
  4. tear — from crying
  5. bay — a horse colour
  6. bay — to keep at bay
  7. mate — a partner
  8. cabinet — ministers
  9. swing — music
  10. spell — magic
  11. tear — to rip
  12. cabinet — ministers
  13. swing — in golf
  14. mate — to breed
  15. mate — a friend
  16. cabinet — a cupboard
  17. content — the amount
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. swing — to play on
  20. tear — from crying
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. spell — letters

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