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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 120 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. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  2. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  21. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  22. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. The ________________ market has crashed.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — goods
  2. rest — a break
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. bat — the animal
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. cold — not warm
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. wound — an injury
  9. hide — to keep secret
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. shower — rain
  12. content — happy
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. rest — what's left
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. stock — a soup base
  17. cold — an illness
  18. wound — an injury
  19. shower — to wash
  20. rest — what's left
  21. hide — animal skin
  22. hide — to keep secret
  23. content — the amount
  24. stock — shares

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