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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: hand · content · wind · track · file · court · pitcher · lean

  1. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  2. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  3. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  4. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. He is an ace ________________.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. The ball is in your ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to bend
  2. lean — thin
  3. track — a path
  4. lean — to rest against
  5. content — the amount
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. court — of law
  8. track — a song
  9. wind — moving air
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. content — happy
  12. file — a tool
  13. court — of a king
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. wind — moving air
  16. pitcher — in baseball
  17. file — a line of people
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. file — a document
  20. hand — in cards
  21. track — to keep track
  22. hand — help
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. court — for sport

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