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

Word bank: swing · spell · pit · file · squash · snap · content · shower

  1. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  5. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  8. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  9. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  10. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  11. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  16. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  17. How do you ________________ your surname?
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  24. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — to crush
  2. content — happy
  3. swing — to play on
  4. squash — the sport
  5. snap — to snap out of it
  6. shower — to wash
  7. pit — a hole
  8. snap — to click
  9. spell — magic
  10. swing — in golf
  11. swing — music
  12. file — a tool
  13. file — a line of people
  14. content — the amount
  15. pit — in a race
  16. pit — a fruit stone
  17. spell — letters
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. shower — rain
  21. spell — a short time
  22. file — a document
  23. snap — to speak sharply
  24. squash — the vegetable

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