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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. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  2. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  3. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  7. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  15. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  16. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  20. The ________________ market has crashed.
  21. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — videos and posts
  2. stock — a soup base
  3. fork — to eat with
  4. cold — an illness
  5. hand — help
  6. fork — in a road
  7. pit — a hole
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. net — in sport
  10. cold — not warm
  11. stock — goods
  12. hand — in cards
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. net — for catching
  15. pit — in a race
  16. fork — a garden tool
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. mine — for digging
  19. net — after costs
  20. stock — shares
  21. pit — a fruit stone
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. content — the amount
  24. content — happy

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