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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: wake · pitcher · file · ground · content · last · mate · hand

  1. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  2. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  3. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. Have you found your soul ________________?
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. He is an ace ________________.
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  10. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. There's no middle ________________.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  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. mate — to breed
  2. wake — before a funeral
  3. content — the amount
  4. hand — help
  5. mate — a partner
  6. last — finally
  7. pitcher — in baseball
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. wake — a trail
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. hand — in cards
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. ground — a position
  15. content — happy
  16. file — a line of people
  17. file — a document
  18. last — final
  19. file — a tool
  20. last — to go on
  21. mate — a friend
  22. ground — the earth
  23. ground — crushed
  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