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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: sharp · swing · bark · current · bat · straw · cold · content

  1. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  12. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. It's one o'clock ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. David sat on the ________________.
  24. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.

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

Answer key

  1. current — happening now
  2. content — happy
  3. swing — music
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. bark — a dog's sound
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. bark — to shout
  10. cold — an illness
  11. current — electric
  12. sharp — with an edge
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. sharp — exactly
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. bat — the animal
  17. sharp — clever
  18. straw — a straw man
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. cold — not warm
  21. current — of water
  22. content — the amount
  23. swing — to play on
  24. swing — in golf

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