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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.

Make a worksheet

Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

Words on the sheet
468
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: row · chair · mate · file · ground · bass · content · spring

  1. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  4. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a tool
  2. mate — a partner
  3. chair — to sit on
  4. mate — a friend
  5. row — a line
  6. content — happy
  7. ground — crushed
  8. ground — a position
  9. chair — a professorship
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. bass — the instrument
  12. content — the amount
  13. mate — to breed
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. spring — the season
  16. spring — of water
  17. chair — a leader
  18. file — a document
  19. bass — low music
  20. file — a line of people
  21. bass — the fish
  22. ground — the earth
  23. spring — a coil
  24. row — to paddle

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