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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: track · kid · swing · jam · bark · content · file · snap

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  11. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  12. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  13. David sat on the ________________.
  14. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  15. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  16. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  17. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. content — the amount
  3. content — happy
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. kid — child
  6. swing — music
  7. file — a tool
  8. track — a song
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. jam — in traffic
  11. jam — to spread on bread
  12. snap — to click
  13. swing — to play on
  14. swing — in golf
  15. track — to keep track
  16. bark — a dog's sound
  17. track — a path
  18. file — a line of people
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. snap — to speak sharply
  21. bark — to shout
  22. jam — a tight spot
  23. file — a document
  24. bark — of a tree

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