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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 116 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. The ________________ market has crashed.
  3. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  4. Did you ________________ the meat?
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  9. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  15. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  16. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  17. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  24. What's the difference between broth and ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. stock — shares
  3. chair — to sit on
  4. season — to add flavour
  5. shower — rain
  6. wax — for sculpting
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. wax — in the ear
  9. wax — to grow
  10. tear — from crying
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. tear — from crying
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. chair — a leader
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. perch — the fish
  17. stock — goods
  18. shower — to wash
  19. season — in sport
  20. content — the amount
  21. season — of the year
  22. tear — to rip
  23. content — happy
  24. stock — a soup base

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