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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. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  2. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  3. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  6. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  7. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  16. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. The ________________ market has crashed.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  24. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.

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

Answer key

  1. board — a committee
  2. pit — in a race
  3. pit — a fruit stone
  4. spell — letters
  5. board — to get on
  6. stock — goods
  7. stock — a soup base
  8. content — happy
  9. snap — to click
  10. ground — crushed
  11. cold — not warm
  12. ground — a position
  13. board — a flat piece
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. ground — the earth
  16. pit — a hole
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. content — the amount
  19. spell — a short time
  20. cold — an illness
  21. stock — shares
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. spell — magic
  24. snap — to snap out of it

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