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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 · content · net · hand · season · lie · bank · pitch

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  7. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  12. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  15. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  16. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  17. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  18. Did you ________________ the meat?
  19. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. David sat on the ________________.
  22. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  23. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  24. He took the fish out of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. pitch — completely
  3. hand — help
  4. pitch — a sales talk
  5. content — the amount
  6. bank — of a river
  7. lie — an untruth
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. pitch — a sports field
  10. net — in sport
  11. swing — in golf
  12. season — in sport
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. net — after costs
  15. season — of the year
  16. lie — an untruth
  17. bank — for money
  18. season — to add flavour
  19. swing — music
  20. hand — in cards
  21. swing — to play on
  22. lie — to recline
  23. bank — for money
  24. net — for catching

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