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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. The ________________ market has crashed.
  2. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  8. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  9. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  12. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  13. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  14. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  15. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  16. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  17. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  20. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  21. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  22. Have you found your soul ________________?
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. kick — in football
  3. chair — a leader
  4. face — part of the head
  5. content — happy
  6. wind — moving air
  7. face — to confront
  8. mate — to breed
  9. mate — a friend
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. chair — to sit on
  12. bass — the fish
  13. stock — goods
  14. bass — low music
  15. kick — with a leg
  16. bass — the instrument
  17. stock — a soup base
  18. wind — moving air
  19. face — to point toward
  20. chair — a professorship
  21. kick — a thrill
  22. mate — a partner
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. content — the amount

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