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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 120 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 · ground · row · content · land · hand · wake · mouse

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  3. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. David sat on the ________________.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  17. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  18. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  19. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  24. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. ground — the earth
  3. swing — music
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. wake — before a funeral
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. land — ground
  8. row — to paddle
  9. content — the amount
  10. mouse — the animal
  11. land — a country
  12. swing — to play on
  13. row — a line
  14. land — to come down
  15. ground — a position
  16. ground — crushed
  17. wake — a trail
  18. swing — in golf
  19. mouse — for a computer
  20. hand — in cards
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. hand — help
  23. mouse — the animal
  24. wake — to stop sleeping

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