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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.

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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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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: race · scale · trunk · bowl · swing · content · file · kick

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  3. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  9. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  10. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  11. David sat on the ________________.
  12. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  13. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  19. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  20. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  23. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  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. content — happy
  2. trunk — of a car
  3. bowl — a football final
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. file — a line of people
  6. scale — in music
  7. file — a document
  8. bowl — a dish
  9. bowl — to roll
  10. scale — for weighing
  11. swing — to play on
  12. scale — size or range
  13. kick — with a leg
  14. file — a tool
  15. race — a contest
  16. kick — in football
  17. content — the amount
  18. kick — a thrill
  19. trunk — of a tree
  20. swing — music
  21. race — the arms race
  22. race — humankind
  23. trunk — of an elephant
  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