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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. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  2. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. The ________________ market has crashed.
  5. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  6. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  7. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  8. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  9. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  17. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. race — a contest
  2. content — videos and posts
  3. content — happy
  4. stock — shares
  5. band — a music group
  6. chip — to eat
  7. stock — goods
  8. race — humankind
  9. chip — in a computer
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. bark — to shout
  12. clip — a video
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. band — a ring
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. chip — for betting
  17. bark — of a tree
  18. clip — to cut
  19. clip — for paper
  20. cold — not warm
  21. content — the amount
  22. stock — a soup base
  23. cold — an illness
  24. race — the arms race

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