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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  5. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  8. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  11. The ________________ market has crashed.
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  16. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  20. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  21. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  22. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  23. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. wound — past of 'wind'
  3. chair — a leader
  4. stock — a soup base
  5. rule — government
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. rest — what's left
  8. rule — a law
  9. wound — an injury
  10. trunk — of a car
  11. stock — shares
  12. content — happy
  13. kid — child
  14. content — the amount
  15. rest — what's left
  16. rule — to rule out
  17. wound — an injury
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. stock — goods
  20. trunk — of a tree
  21. chair — to sit on
  22. rest — a break
  23. trunk — of an elephant
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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