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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. The ________________ market has crashed.
  2. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  5. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  9. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  14. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  17. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  18. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. last — finally
  3. chest — of your body
  4. staff — employees
  5. staff — employees
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. bore — gave birth
  9. bore — to drill
  10. wind — moving air
  11. last — final
  12. chest — a box
  13. stock — goods
  14. root — of a plant
  15. content — happy
  16. stock — a soup base
  17. bore — to tire
  18. staff — a stick
  19. content — the amount
  20. wind — moving air
  21. root — of a word
  22. chest — of your body
  23. root — the cause
  24. last — to go on

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