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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 120 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: pop · row · plane · bat · saw · file · content · stem

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. She's very handy with a ________________.
  3. You don't need to ________________ round.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. The ________________ took off on time.
  15. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  16. He works in a ________________ mill.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  21. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. We're almost out of ________________.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. saw — the tool
  3. pop — to visit
  4. file — a tool
  5. plane — in geometry
  6. bat — the animal
  7. saw — past of 'see'
  8. row — a line
  9. stem — to come from
  10. file — a document
  11. plane — a tool
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. plane — an aircraft
  15. stem — a stem cell
  16. saw — the tool
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. file — a line of people
  19. content — the amount
  20. pop — music
  21. stem — of a plant
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. pop — soda
  24. row — to paddle

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