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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. The ________________ market has crashed.
  3. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. Did you ________________ the button?
  11. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  12. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  13. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  17. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  18. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  19. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  20. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  21. That must've been a ________________.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. stock — shares
  3. leaves — lets stay
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. cold — an illness
  7. kid — to tease
  8. kid — child
  9. race — a contest
  10. press — to push
  11. press — newspapers
  12. stock — a soup base
  13. rush — hurry
  14. cold — not warm
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. rush — to hurry
  17. race — humankind
  18. leaves — of a tree
  19. leaves — to go away
  20. press — a publisher
  21. rush — a thrill
  22. content — the amount
  23. race — the arms race
  24. stock — goods

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