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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  6. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  7. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  11. Have you settled on a ________________?
  12. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  13. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  14. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  15. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  16. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  17. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  18. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  21. The ________________ market has crashed.
  22. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  23. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  24. What's the difference between broth and ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. cold — an illness
  3. snap — to speak sharply
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. fine — high quality
  6. stock — goods
  7. face — to point toward
  8. content — the amount
  9. content — happy
  10. fine — a penalty
  11. date — on the calendar
  12. fine — all right
  13. face — to confront
  14. snap — to snap out of it
  15. branch — a division
  16. branch — of a tree
  17. snap — to click
  18. date — the fruit
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. face — part of the head
  21. stock — shares
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. branch — of a bank
  24. stock — a soup base

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