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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  4. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  7. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. How do you ________________ your surname?
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  15. The ________________ market has crashed.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  18. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  19. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  22. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  23. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  24. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. chest — of your body
  3. kick — with a leg
  4. kick — a thrill
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. bark — a dog's sound
  7. stem — a stem cell
  8. bark — to shout
  9. present — a gift
  10. chest — a box
  11. spell — letters
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. stem — to come from
  15. stock — shares
  16. content — the amount
  17. stem — of a plant
  18. stock — goods
  19. present — the time now
  20. chest — of your body
  21. spell — a short time
  22. spell — magic
  23. present — there
  24. kick — in football

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