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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. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  2. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  11. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  19. The ________________ market has crashed.
  20. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  23. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to rest against
  2. stock — goods
  3. march — the month
  4. field — for sport
  5. drill — the tool
  6. march — music
  7. content — the amount
  8. hand — in cards
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. drill — army training
  11. stock — a soup base
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. chest — of your body
  14. content — happy
  15. chest — of your body
  16. chest — a box
  17. field — farmland
  18. lean — to bend
  19. stock — shares
  20. lean — thin
  21. hand — help
  22. march — the month
  23. drill — a practice
  24. field — a subject

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