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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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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 supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  4. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  5. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  11. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  12. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  13. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  14. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. The ________________ market has crashed.
  20. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — goods
  2. field — farmland
  3. wax — in the ear
  4. bear — the animal
  5. wax — to grow
  6. court — of law
  7. cold — not warm
  8. field — a subject
  9. content — happy
  10. bowl — to roll
  11. wax — for sculpting
  12. bear — to put up with
  13. stock — a soup base
  14. bear — the animal
  15. content — the amount
  16. bowl — a dish
  17. court — for sport
  18. field — for sport
  19. stock — shares
  20. bowl — a football final
  21. cold — an illness
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. court — of a king
  24. cold — the Cold War

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