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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. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  6. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. It's one o'clock ________________.
  11. The ________________ market has crashed.
  12. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  15. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  22. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. content — happy
  3. stock — goods
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. bass — the fish
  6. bass — the instrument
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. bass — low music
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. sharp — exactly
  11. stock — shares
  12. lie — an untruth
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. wake — a trail
  15. bark — to shout
  16. content — the amount
  17. lie — to recline
  18. mine — for digging
  19. wake — before a funeral
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. lie — an untruth
  22. sharp — clever
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. wake — to stop sleeping

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