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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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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: swing · content · roll · racket · snap · mate · straw · court

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  3. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  4. Have you found your soul ________________?
  5. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. David sat on the ________________.
  8. We're on a ________________ here.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  13. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  14. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. The ball is in your ________________.
  21. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  22. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  23. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. roll — a list
  3. racket — a loud noise
  4. mate — a partner
  5. racket — for tennis
  6. court — of a king
  7. swing — to play on
  8. roll — on a roll
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. roll — a cake
  11. court — of law
  12. mate — to breed
  13. swing — music
  14. swing — in golf
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. snap — to snap out of it
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. content — the amount
  20. court — for sport
  21. snap — to click
  22. racket — for tennis
  23. mate — a friend
  24. straw — a straw man

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