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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: ball · cold · swing · pitcher · content · wake · tube · stem

  1. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  2. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  7. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  8. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  9. The King held a masked ________________.
  10. I'll be taking the ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  13. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  14. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  15. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  16. David sat on the ________________.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  20. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  21. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  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 — videos and posts
  2. swing — music
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. cold — an illness
  6. stem — a stem cell
  7. wake — before a funeral
  8. ball — a great time
  9. ball — a dance
  10. tube — the underground
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. tube — a container
  13. wake — to stop sleeping
  14. stem — to come from
  15. wake — a trail
  16. swing — to play on
  17. content — the amount
  18. cold — not warm
  19. tube — in a tire
  20. content — happy
  21. ball — a round shape
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. pitcher — a jug
  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