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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 116 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.

Make a worksheet

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: staff · swing · cold · last · file · lean · content · game

  1. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  6. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  7. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. David sat on the ________________.
  10. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  11. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. The old man leaned on his ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. last — finally
  3. cold — not warm
  4. last — to go on
  5. lean — thin
  6. lean — to bend
  7. lean — to rest against
  8. cold — an illness
  9. swing — to play on
  10. last — final
  11. swing — in golf
  12. file — a tool
  13. staff — employees
  14. content — happy
  15. game — wild animals
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. game — a match
  18. content — the amount
  19. file — a document
  20. swing — music
  21. file — a line of people
  22. staff — employees
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. staff — a stick

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