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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: swing · chest · pit · content · file · roll · bulb · mine

  1. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  7. David sat on the ________________.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  12. I've got to change the light ________________.
  13. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. We're on a ________________ here.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. The light ________________ burned out.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a hole
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. chest — a box
  4. swing — music
  5. chest — of your body
  6. bulb — of a plant
  7. swing — to play on
  8. chest — of your body
  9. pit — a fruit stone
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. roll — a cake
  12. bulb — for light
  13. pit — in a race
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. content — happy
  16. roll — a list
  17. file — a line of people
  18. roll — on a roll
  19. mine — for digging
  20. swing — in golf
  21. file — a tool
  22. file — a document
  23. content — the amount
  24. bulb — for light

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