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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 ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  4. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  5. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. Did you ________________ the meat?
  8. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  9. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  10. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  19. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  20. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. The ________________ market has crashed.
  24. I have a corn on my right ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. kid — to tease
  3. season — in sport
  4. stock — a soup base
  5. lean — to bend
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. season — to add flavour
  8. season — of the year
  9. foot — the bottom
  10. foot — a measure
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. content — the amount
  13. lean — thin
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. cold — an illness
  17. cold — not warm
  18. stock — goods
  19. lean — to rest against
  20. content — happy
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. kid — child
  23. stock — shares
  24. foot — part of the body

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