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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: file · club · coach · kid · pitcher · pit · wind · content

  1. Have you met the new head ________________?
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  10. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  19. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  20. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  24. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. coach — a trainer
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. club — for dancing
  5. wind — moving air
  6. club — for golf
  7. wind — moving air
  8. content — the amount
  9. club — a group
  10. coach — pulled by horses
  11. file — a tool
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. file — a document
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. content — happy
  16. file — a line of people
  17. kid — to tease
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. pit — a hole
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. kid — child
  23. pit — in a race
  24. pit — a fruit stone

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