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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. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  4. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  5. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. There's no middle ________________.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. The ________________ market has crashed.
  11. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. Add some ________________ pepper to it.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. chair — a leader
  3. file — a document
  4. ground — the earth
  5. stock — goods
  6. spring — of water
  7. ground — a position
  8. file — a line of people
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. stock — shares
  11. leaves — to go away
  12. file — a tool
  13. content — happy
  14. stock — a soup base
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. content — the amount
  17. row — a quarrel
  18. spring — the season
  19. row — a line
  20. leaves — lets stay
  21. spring — a coil
  22. leaves — of a tree
  23. row — to paddle
  24. ground — crushed

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