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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.

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: hand · mine · craft · ball · swing · content · clip · root

  1. David sat on the ________________.
  2. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  13. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  17. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  21. The King held a masked ________________.
  22. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. craft — boats
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. root — of a plant
  5. clip — for paper
  6. craft — a skill
  7. clip — a video
  8. swing — music
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. hand — help
  12. swing — in golf
  13. ball — a great time
  14. mine — for digging
  15. clip — to cut
  16. ball — a round shape
  17. root — of a word
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. content — the amount
  20. craft — a handicraft
  21. ball — a dance
  22. content — happy
  23. hand — in cards
  24. root — the cause

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