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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. Have you met the new head ________________?
  2. The ________________ market has crashed.
  3. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  8. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  9. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  12. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  13. Did you ________________ the button?
  14. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  19. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — a trainer
  2. stock — shares
  3. track — a path
  4. content — happy
  5. bore — gave birth
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. press — a publisher
  8. bore — to drill
  9. track — to keep track
  10. cold — not warm
  11. stock — goods
  12. stock — a soup base
  13. press — to push
  14. press — newspapers
  15. chest — of your body
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. cold — an illness
  18. track — a song
  19. coach — pulled by horses
  20. chest — of your body
  21. content — the amount
  22. chest — a box
  23. bore — to tire
  24. content — videos and posts

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