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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: swing · wound · file · charge · bark · press · clip · content

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  3. The tickets are free of ________________.
  4. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  5. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  6. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. David sat on the ________________.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. Did you ________________ the button?
  20. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  23. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. swing — music
  3. charge — a price
  4. bark — of a tree
  5. swing — in golf
  6. charge — electricity
  7. file — a line of people
  8. bark — a dog's sound
  9. wound — an injury
  10. bark — to shout
  11. swing — to play on
  12. content — the amount
  13. clip — to cut
  14. file — a document
  15. wound — an injury
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. clip — for paper
  19. press — to push
  20. press — newspapers
  21. file — a tool
  22. press — a publisher
  23. charge — in control
  24. clip — a video

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