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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. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. The ________________ market has crashed.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  14. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  15. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  16. It's one o'clock ________________.
  17. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  18. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  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. sharp — with an edge
  2. last — final
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. last — to go on
  5. content — happy
  6. fork — in a road
  7. content — the amount
  8. stock — shares
  9. cold — not warm
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. trunk — of a car
  12. shower — rain
  13. fork — to eat with
  14. last — finally
  15. sharp — clever
  16. sharp — exactly
  17. fork — a garden tool
  18. trunk — of a tree
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. cold — an illness
  21. trunk — of an elephant
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. shower — to wash
  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