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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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  3. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  4. Have you found your soul ________________?
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  7. The ________________ market has crashed.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  10. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  11. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  14. Have you settled on a ________________?
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  19. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  20. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  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. land — ground
  2. mate — a friend
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. mate — a partner
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. stock — a soup base
  7. stock — shares
  8. content — happy
  9. mate — to breed
  10. bass — low music
  11. branch — of a bank
  12. land — a country
  13. branch — a division
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. date — the fruit
  17. capital — money
  18. bass — the fish
  19. branch — of a tree
  20. bass — the instrument
  21. capital — a city
  22. land — to come down
  23. stock — goods
  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