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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 ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  7. The ________________ market has crashed.
  8. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  9. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  14. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. What do you think of the new ________________?
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. content — happy
  3. cell — a phone
  4. bowl — a dish
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. cabinet — a cupboard
  7. stock — shares
  8. stock — goods
  9. bowl — to roll
  10. kid — child
  11. stock — a soup base
  12. cold — an illness
  13. current — happening now
  14. current — electric
  15. cold — not warm
  16. cabinet — ministers
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. bowl — a football final
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. cabinet — ministers
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. current — of water
  23. content — the amount
  24. cell — in biology

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