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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: content · spring · cabinet · file · race · scale · pound · spell

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  7. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  11. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  14. How do you ________________ your surname?
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. What do you think of the new ________________?
  19. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  24. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. spring — the season
  3. race — humankind
  4. spell — magic
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. spell — a short time
  7. scale — for weighing
  8. file — a tool
  9. spring — a coil
  10. cabinet — a cupboard
  11. race — a contest
  12. race — the arms race
  13. cabinet — ministers
  14. spell — letters
  15. file — a line of people
  16. scale — in music
  17. content — the amount
  18. cabinet — ministers
  19. scale — size or range
  20. spring — of water
  21. pound — for dogs
  22. file — a document
  23. pound — a weight
  24. pound — to hit hard

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