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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: bound · present · ground · content · kid · race · swing · season

  1. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  10. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  17. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  18. David sat on the ________________.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  22. That was ________________ to happen.
  23. There's no middle ________________.
  24. Spring is a pleasant ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. season — in sport
  3. race — humankind
  4. bound — obliged
  5. content — happy
  6. race — a contest
  7. ground — crushed
  8. kid — to tease
  9. swing — music
  10. ground — the earth
  11. race — the arms race
  12. content — the amount
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. present — the time now
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. present — there
  17. bound — tied together
  18. swing — to play on
  19. kid — child
  20. swing — in golf
  21. present — a gift
  22. bound — certain
  23. ground — a position
  24. season — of the year

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