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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 116 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. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  2. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  3. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  13. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  14. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  15. The ________________ market has crashed.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  20. This piece is in a major ________________.
  21. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  22. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  23. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  24. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. key — the most important part
  2. stock — goods
  3. perch — the fish
  4. content — happy
  5. lean — to rest against
  6. wind — moving air
  7. ground — crushed
  8. ground — a position
  9. content — the amount
  10. patient — a sick person
  11. wind — moving air
  12. stock — a soup base
  13. patient — calm and waiting
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. stock — shares
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. lean — to bend
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. ground — the earth
  20. key — in music
  21. key — for a lock
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. lean — thin
  24. perch — for a bird

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