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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. The ________________ market has crashed.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  6. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  10. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  18. You can't go backstage without a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. content — the amount
  3. stock — shares
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. pass — to succeed
  6. stock — a soup base
  7. hand — in cards
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. net — for catching
  10. net — after costs
  11. spring — the season
  12. hand — help
  13. stock — goods
  14. spring — of water
  15. spring — a coil
  16. net — in sport
  17. pass — to spend time
  18. pass — a permit

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