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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: pitcher · stem · content · tear · ball · track · bound · file

  1. That was ________________ to happen.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. The King held a masked ________________.
  7. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  8. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  9. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  14. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  15. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. He is an ace ________________.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  23. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bound — certain
  2. tear — from crying
  3. content — happy
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. ball — a dance
  7. ball — a round shape
  8. track — a path
  9. stem — to come from
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. stem — of a plant
  12. content — the amount
  13. track — to keep track
  14. stem — a stem cell
  15. ball — a great time
  16. tear — from crying
  17. file — a tool
  18. track — a song
  19. tear — to rip
  20. pitcher — in baseball
  21. file — a document
  22. bound — tied together
  23. bound — obliged
  24. file — a line of people

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